Sometimes these type of stories are intentionally leaked to put pressure on an opponent.
Yes, that does happen, but I don’t think McMasters would’ve told this to a British paper first...
I'm in that line of thinking, too. It's a standard signaling tactic to affect the behavior of the enemy. It may also be an attempt to separate fat boy from the more seasoned leaders in the military. Fat boy is all about bombast and bluster; he'll soon be faced with actually backing it up.