Boris Johnson has sparked a major Tory backlash ahead of a critical decision on whether to allow the Chinese firm Huawei to build the UK’s 5G network.
Amid escalating tensions with Washington, senior Conservatives broke ranks to warn the prime minister against “allowing the fox in the hen house” by letting the tech giant into the UK’s broadband infrastructure.
Mr Johnson will chair a meeting of the National Security Council on Tuesday, with a decision expected on whether Huawei equipment can be used in the 5G network.
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Donald Trump’s administration has ramped up pressure on Downing Street to ditch the Chinese company, which the US has banned from its 5G networks on national security grounds.
The row is shaping up to be one of the first big tests of Mr Johnson’s premiership, as angry backbenchers lined up to condemn the prospect of allowing Huawei into any part of the UK’s infrastructure.
Tom Tugendhat, Tory former chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said: “Tomorrow a decision will be made that we will not have any further say on because of course any decision that is made will nest a dragon into our critical national infrastructure or not.
“That decision will not be one that is reversible by a future government with any ease at all. This will be a decision that we will live with for the next 10, 15, or 20 years.”
The Tory MP asked whether the risk was worth it, adding: “Perhaps we should be aware of strangers and the gifts they bear.”
He said: “The idea that we should be nesting that dragon, the idea that we should be allowing the fox into the hen house, when really we should be guarding the wire, is one of those moments where I hope the minister will see his responsibility very clearly.”
Tory grandee Sir Iain Duncan Smith said the prospect of letting Huawei into the network was “utterly bizarre” and claimed he had been promised that the government would reject the move.
Damian Collins, former chair of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, said a Cabinet Office report last year cited “serious and systemic failings in cybersecurity in the current Huawei network” and questioned why the government is prepared to give the company more work when there are “still serious concerns about the work it has already done”.
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1/50 27 January 2020England bowler Mark Wood is lifted aloft by Joe Root after taking the final wicket of South Africa to win the match and series during day four of the Fourth Test at Wanderers in Johannesburg
Getty
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3/50 25 January 2020A couple walks along the Basingstoke canal near to Dogmersfield in Hampshire
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4/50 24 January 2020Boris Johnson gestures as he watches a performance during celebrations for Chinese Lunar New Year at Downing Street in London
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1/50 27 January 2020England bowler Mark Wood is lifted aloft by Joe Root after taking the final wicket of South Africa to win the match and series during day four of the Fourth Test at Wanderers in Johannesburg
Getty
2/50 26 January 2020Performers taking part in a parade involving costumes, lion dances and floats, during Chinese New Year celebrations in central London, which marks the Year of the Rat
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3/50 25 January 2020A couple walks along the Basingstoke canal near to Dogmersfield in Hampshire
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4/50 24 January 2020Boris Johnson gestures as he watches a performance during celebrations for Chinese Lunar New Year at Downing Street in London
Reuters
5/50 23 January 2020Gabriella Zaghari-Ratcliffe stands next to her father Richard Ratcliffe, the husband of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and his mother Barbara, as they address the media in Downing Street following a meeting with Prime Minister Boris Johnson
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6/50 22 January 2020Rosa Connolly takes a close look during a preview of the Tyrannosaurs exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh
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7/50 21 January 2020The sun sets behind tower cranes and the London skyline in the city financial district
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9/50 19 January 2020Joe Root celebrates with his England team mates after taking the wicket of Rassie van der Dussen during day four of the third Test against South Africa in Port Elizabeth. He took a career-best four wickets during the day’s play, which saw the home side follow on in their second innings. They trail England by 188 runs going into day five
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12/50 16 January 2020Britain’s Harry, Duke of Sussex (C), hosts the Rugby League World Cup 2021 draw in the gardens of Buckingham Palace in London, Britain, 16 Ja​nuary 2020. The Duke, who is expected to step back from senior Royal duties, spoke with Ruby League ambassadors and children from St Vincent de Paul Catholic Primary School in London
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21/50 7 January 2020England’s Stuart Broad celebrates with teammate Ben Stokes after the dismissal of South Africa’s Rassie van der Dussen during the fifth day of the second Test cricket match in Cape Town. Stokes claimed the last three wickets in the space of 14 deliveries to wrap up a 189-run win
AFP via Getty
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23/50 5 January 2020Protesters demonstrate outside the US Embassy in London, after America killed Iran’s general Qassem Soleimani in a drone strike at Baghdad’s international airport
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29/50 30 December 2019Deer graze in the morning mist as cyclists ride by in Richmond Park, London
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31/50 28 December 2019The Harlequins players arrive at the stadium prior to the Gallagher Premiership Rugby Big Game 12 match between Harlequins and Leicester Tigers at Twickenahm Stadium
Getty Images for Harlequins
32/50 27 December 2019A car drives through floodwater near Harbridge, north of Ringwood in Hampshire, after the river Avon burst its banks
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33/50 26 December 2019Participants in the Old Surrey and West Kent Boxing Day Hunt in Chiddingstone. Hunting with horses and hounds is a Boxing Day tradition. Since the fox hunting ban in 2004, modified hunts take place using scented trails for the animals to follow
EPA
34/50 25 December 2019Swimmers of the Serpentine Swimming Club take part in the Peter Pan Cup race, which is held every Christmas Day at the Serpentine, in central London
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35/50 24 December 2019Shoppers bid for cuts of meat during a Christmas Eve auction in Smithfield market in London
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36/50 23 December 2019Reggie the dog is rescued with a boat from flooding at the Little Venice Country Park and Marina in Maidstone
AFP via Getty
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40/50 19 December 2019Queen Elizabeth II and her son Prince Charles walk behind the Imperial State Crown as they proccess through the Royal Gallery, before the Queen’s Speech, during the State Opening of Parliament
AFP via Getty
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45/50 14 December 2019First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, takes a selfie as she joins the SNPs newly elected MPs for a group photo outside the V&A Museum in Dundee, Scotland
Getty Images
46/50 13 December 2019Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Carrie Symonds arrive back at Downing Street after the results for the general election were announced. The Conservative Party won with an overall majority
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47/50 12 December 2019A dog outside a polling station during the general election in Northumberland
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48/50 11 December 2019Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson stands between a Stop Brexit sign as she attends a general election campaign event at Esher Rugby Club, south west London. Britain will go to the polls tomorrow to vote
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50/50 9 December 2019Leah Rossiter (left) and Ceara Carney, dressed as mermaids, join members of the Irish Wildlife Trust and Extinction Rebellion Ireland protesting outside Leinster House in Dublin, against overfishing in Irish Waters
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Ex-cabinet minister Jeremy Wright also urged ministers to reassure MPs that the decision was based on advice from the intelligence agencies.
Earlier, David Davis, the former Brexit secretary, also said Mr Trump’s administration “have a point” about the Chinese telecommunications giant and claimed potential vulnerabilities could be exploited by Beijing later down the line.
“The problem with this is that it is irreversible. Once you have done it, the technology is not designed to be ‘plug and play’ – where you can pull out a Huawei unit and put in a Samsung one – it’s effectively proprietary, a bit like having an Apple plug.
“So it’s quite close to an irreversible mistake, and it’s also close to a mistake you wouldn’t know if you’d made it.”
But former Tory minister Crispin Blunt, ex-chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, urged the government to ignore pressure from the US unless there was a credible security risk.
He told MPs: “Unless the Americans can make a legitimate security case, we should quietly ignore their current public position that thinly disguises a protectionist trade position built on supposition, and we should proceed on the evidence, as well as gently telling our American friends that we are not leaving one dependent economic relationship on Friday, to immediately enter another.”
Mr Johnson told reporters he would not “jeopardise” the UK’s security relationships.
But he added: “There’s no reason why we shouldn’t have technological progress here in the UK, allow consumers, businesses in the UK to have access to fantastic technology, fantastic communications, but also protect our security interests and protect our key partnerships with other security powers around the world.”
The US has long insisted that allowing Huawei into telecoms infrastructure presents a risk of espionage and it has warned its allies against allowing the tech giant access to their networks.
Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state, said British sovereignty could be in jeopardy if it gave the green light to Huawei.
The company itself has always denied claims that its equipment could be used to spy on people and that it is too close to the Chinese government.
But not using Huawei could have economic implications, slowing down the rollout of super-fast internet, which was one of Mr Johnson’s key pledges during the election.
Professor Malcolm Chalmers, deputy director of defence and security think tank the Royal United Services Institute, said he did not believe the US would cut off intelligence-sharing if Huawei was given a role in the UK’s 5G network.
“When the dust settles, I find it very hard to believe that the US would want to cut off its access to UK-generated intelligence as a response to a decision of this nature. I don’t take that threat very seriously,” he said.
Source: UK Politics - www.independent.co.uk