Boris Johnson sees off first Tory rebellion in row over Huawei
Ex-cabinet ministers deliver their first big warning shot to the PM, with warnings of another attempt in the summer.
Tuesday 10 March 2020 17:41, UK
Boris Johnson has seen off his first Tory rebellion since the election in a row over Huawei's involvement in Britain's 5G network.
The prime minister defeated dozens of his own MPs - including several former cabinet ministers who were trying to limit the Chinese tech giant's access to infrastructure in the UK to the end of 2022.
Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden tried to persuade the head of the rebellion - former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith - not to persist with the issue by putting his amendment to a vote in parliament.
But assurances the government wanted to eventually phase out "high-risk vendors" failed to buy him - and other Conservative grandees like Damian Green and David Davis - off.
Mr Johnson won the vote by 306 to 282, giving him a relatively slim majority of 24.
A total of 38 Tories rebelled in the end - not enough to inflict defeat but a sizeable number to send a message to Downing Street.
Tory MP Bob Seely said he was "surprised" so many colleagues rebelled because the piece of legislation they were trying to amend "was not even the right vehicle".
"It was a strong first showing," he tweeted.
Tom Tugendhat, another Conservative who chairs the foreign affairs select committee, added he "could not support the government" and urged them to change their minds before the main showdown expected in the summer.
Backbencher Sir Bob Neil added "I could not have put it better myself".
Another - Tim Loughton - urged: "We should not be taking these risks with our security."
The row centres over Mr Johnson's decision in January to allow Huawei to supply "non-core" elements of the 5G network.
It defied security concerns - particularly from the US - and left the White House facing pressure to review its intelligence-sharing relationship with the UK.
Among the conditions for Huawei's involvement are it being excluded from all safety-related networks and sensitive geographic locations such as nuclear sites and military bases, as well as it having a 35% cap in non-sensitive parts of the 5G network.