Huawei leak: Senior civil servant piles pressure on ministers to cooperate with probe
The UK’s foremost civil servant has piled pressure on cabinet ministers to cooperate with his inquiry about who leaked private security discussions at the top level of government.
Sir Mark Sedwill has written to members of the National Security Council after the Telegraph reported that Prime Minister Theresa May is set to allow Huawei access to build parts of the UK’s 5G network.
Read more: Government ‘cannot exclude’ Huawei leak inquiry
That decision was made despite repeated warnings from the US that Huawei is being used as a spy by China, allegations the technology giant has denied.
A number of cabinet ministers have denied involvement in the leak since Tuesday’s meeting, while culture secretary Sir Jeremy Wright yesterday warned a criminal investigation into the leak cannot be ruled out.
Sedwill is leading an internal inquiry into the leak.
Meanwhile, home secretary Sajid Javid, defence secretary Gavin Williamson and foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt have all denied being the source.
Reports suggest that people close to international trade secretary Liam Fox and international development secretary Penny Mordaunt have also denied any involvement.
Javid called the leak “completely unacceptable” and Hunt called the confidentiality breach “utterly appalling”.
Huawei is set to be able to build non-core parts of the UK’s 5G network, the Telegraph reported.
However, Downing Street has said no formal decision will be made until the end of spring.
“We want to ensure we see greater resilience in our telecoms network and that we are able to provide high levels of cyber security, but we also see diversity of suppliers,” May said.
The leaked decision has split Tories, with a string of senior MPs labelling it “short-sighted” to allow Huawei’s involvement given various bans from other countries.
Read more: Tory party divided over Huawei’s involvement in 5G network
“Allowing Huawei into the UK’s 5G infrastructure would cause allies to doubt our ability to keep data secure and erode the trust essential to Five Eyes cooperation,” Tugendhat told the BBC yesterday.
Damian Collins, chair of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, said the decision was “serious cause for concern”.