Johnson defeats revolt over Huawei UK 5G role

Boris Johnson has defeated his first party rebellion over a UK government decision to allow China’s Huawei to have a role in building Britain’s 5G phone network.

Huawei, the world’s biggest producer of telecoms equipment, has been caught in a stand-off between Washington and Beijing after the US accused it of spying on Western secrets, allegations which the company has denied.

Britain decided in January to allow Huawei into what the UK government said were non-sensitive parts of the country’s 5G network, capping its involvement at 35%. This angered the US, which wants to exclude Huawei from the West’s next-generation communications systems and has urged Britain to rethink.

Some senior Conservatives shared the US unhappiness.

They wanted Huawei eliminated entirely from Britain’s 5G networks by the end of December 2022.

The government, which has an 80 seat majority, won by 24 votes.

Britain’’s Digital Infrastructure Minister Matt Warman said the government had “heard loud and clear the points made on all sides of the house”.

Bob Seely, one of the rebels, signalled the group would continue to pursue their cause, describing the vote as “a strong first showing”.