Donald Trump’s secretary of state will warn Theresa May about granting Huawei access to 5G network after she sacked Gavin Williamson over leak
- Mike Pompeo will tell the Prime Minister that Huawei poses a risk to the country
- Former head of the CIA will meet Mrs May and Jeremy Hunt, next Wednesday
- Pompeo will also deliver a speech on the state of the UK-US ‘special relationship’
Donald Trump’s secretary of state is to warn Theresa May against giving Huawei access to Britain’s 5G networks, it was reported yesterday.
Mike Pompeo will tell the Prime Minister that the Chinese technology company poses a security risk to Britain.
The former head of the CIA will meet Mrs May and Jeremy Hunt, the Foreign Secretary, in London next Wednesday.
He will also deliver a speech on the state of the UK-US ‘special relationship’.
US secretary of state Mike Pompeo will tell the Prime Minister that Huawei poses a security risk to Britain
A US State Department official said Mr Pompeo would make it clear that giving Huawei access to networks could endanger US-UK technology partnerships, The Daily Telegraph reported.
The source said: ‘What we want to do with friends, allies, partners on this issue is share with them the things we know about the risks that the presence of Huawei and their networks present.
‘We see that as imperative, the risk to their own people, to the loss of privacy protections, the risk that China will use the data in a way that’s not in the best interests of their country.’
The Prime Minister’s decision to give Huawei limited access to Britain’s 5G network has put renewed strain on the relationship with Washington.
The White House has been lobbying European allies against letting the firm into its networks, fearing that the Chinese government has significant control over Huawei, despite its denials.
Prime Minister Theresa May, pictured in Downing Street today, said that there was ‘compelling evidence’ Gavin Williamson was behind the Huawei leak
Gavin Williamson (left) was on holiday in Scotland with his wife Joanne Williamson and their children over Easter but was still grilled by a civil servant sent there from London by investigation chief Sir Mark Sedwill. He has since been sacked as Defence Secretary
A leak from a National Security Council meeting on April 23, where Mrs May refused to rule out letting Huawei help bring 5G to Britain, has led to even more attention being heaped on the issue.
Theresa May sacked Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson over the leak after his 11-minute call to the journalist who broke the story.
Sir Mark Sedwill pored over the Defence Secretary’s phone records and found he had spoken to Daily Telegraph reporter Steven Swinford on the day of National Security Council discussions about Huawei’s potential access to the UK’s 5G network.
Mrs May fired him claiming there was ‘compelling evidence’ he was responsible for the leak – but Mr Williamson claims he spoke to Swinford about the Tory leadership and Brexit and said the PM had ‘just sacked someone who is not guilty’, adding: ‘I swear on my children’s lives that I’m innocent.’
Mr Williamson’s dismissal came days after he went on the record to deny that he had leaked details of the National Security Council meeting.
The Huawei issue has divided politicians in the UK, with Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt saying that Britain should be wary about embracing Chinese firms because they are legally obliged to help their country’s spies.
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