9th April 2019
Donald Trump is expected to be given the honour of a state visit from the Queen when he next returns to the UK, senior Whitehall sources have said.
A formal announcement is likely within days after * a rare meeting between Her Majesty and US ambassador Woody Johnson * is believed to have taken place last month…
https://metro.co.uk/2019/04/08/donald-trump-get-full-state-visit-including-carriage-procession-june-9130848/
24th April 2019
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6952983/Theresa-defies-security-warnings-APPROVE-Huawei-deal-help-build-Britains-new-5G-network.html
"Critics blast Theresa May's 'very poor judgement' for letting Huawei build Britain's 5G network despite spying fears and warnings from security chiefs"
Trump administration and the CIA have urged UK not to let Chinese firm in
But UK National Security Council, chaired by PM, agreed Huawei access to deal
They may build sections of 5G network such as antennas but not 'core' systems
Cabinet ministers including Sajid Javid are all believed to have voiced concerns
Mike Pompeo says US 'won’t be able to share information' with Huawei nations
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24th April 2019
http://encyclopedic.co.uk/2019/04/24/secretive-five-eyes-club-to-speak-openly-about-cyber-threats/
"Secretive ‘Five Eyes’ club to speak openly about cyber threats"
Experts from the so-called Five Eyes intelligence agencies will appear together for the first time in the UK to discuss cyber threats.
The Five Eyes was once an almost entirely secret intelligence alliance in which the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand shared information.
Representatives from all five countries will speak openly together at Glasgow’s CyberUK conference on Wednesday.
It comes amid tensions in the close-knit group over how to deal with China.
In particular, there are divisions over the role that the Chinese company Huawei should have in building next-generation 5G data networks.
The US has been campaigning hard for allies to exclude Huawei and Australia has sided with Washington.
But there are reports that the UK government has already decided to allow Huawei to participate in building some “non-core” parts of a new 5G data network.
According to the Daily Telegraph, the decision was made by Prime Minister Theresa May despite concerns being raised by the home, defence and foreign secretaries
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25th April 2019
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-48051999
"Huawei leak row: Government 'cannot exclude' criminal investigation"
The Daily Telegraph reported that the NSC had agreed to let Chinese firm Huawei help build the UK's 5G network.
Former defence secretary Sir Michael Fallon said the leak was "too serious" for a standard Whitehall inquiry.
Sir Michael, who was defence secretary between 2014 and 2017, said everyone who was at the meeting should be subject to a "proper Scotland Yard investigation", and it was an "offence to divulge secret information from the most secret of all government bodies, which is the National Security Council".
The NSC is made up of senior cabinet ministers. Chaired by the prime minister, it meets every week to discuss government objectives concerning national security - with other ministers, officials and senior figures from the armed forces and intelligence invited when needed.
It is a place where secret intelligence can be shared by GCHQ, MI6 and MI5 with ministers, all of whom have signed the Official Secrets Act.
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25th April 2019
https://www.conservativehome.com/platform/2019/04/adam-holloway-huawei-exercises-state-influence-through-private-means-it-is-the-east-india-company-of-the-modern-age.html
"Adam Holloway: Huawei exercises state influence through private means. It is the East India Company of the modern age."
View of senior figure close to a UK intelligence agency:
You asked me what they would do in ten years time. Remember when Russia invaded Georgia? As a former bit of the Soviet Union, Georgia’s infrastructure was still controlled by Russia. So the Russians just switched it off. In the same way, in the future the Chinese could just switch off large bits of our infrastructure: even now, we can no longer rely on large chunks of our strategic infrastructure to work.
In the US, a lot of people are very wary of them. Huawei have excellent equipment, but the concerns about the company’s parentage and who supports them is considerable. In a tidy irony, in the UK, the Government’s Chief Information Officer – John Suffolk – was tasked with carrying out an enquiry into Huawei: he is now Huawei’s Global Head of Cyber Security. If that ain’t a conflict of interest, I don’t know what is!
A major concern is that when they get sufficient hold of the infrastructure we will have a real problem. When objections were made to their involvement in the UK, Huawei’s lobbyists went straight to Cabinet Ministers. Be that as it is, this remains a large Chinese company with strong links with the Chinese government.