Huawei: Should the Chinese champion be allowed to help build Britain's 5G networks?

The Government is reportedly going to allow the company to provide "non core parts" but the leaked decision has already sparked controversy

Huawei: The Government is reportedly planning to allow the company to build parts of UK 5G networks (AFP/Getty)

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist or even a specialist in 5G infrastructure to work out what links the government departments said to have objected to the leaked decision to let Huawei play a role in building Britain's 5G mobile networks.

The Home Office, the Foreign Office and the Ministry of Defence are respectively run by Sajid Javid, Jeremy Hunt and Gavin Williamson, all of whom fancy themselves as Prime Ministerial material when Theresa May steps down (or is forced out).

They have plenty to gain by making the decision public and having their (politically motivated) objections to it noted.

The fact that the leak - to the Daily Telegraph - has sparked a furore and heaped more pressure on May makes this a double win for them.

Pity poor Jeremy Wright at the Department for Culture, Media & Sport. He doesn’t usually get to go to the National Security Council, but because this involves telecoms it’s his bag.

Wright is a rare creature in the current government in that he’s not in the Tory Party leadership lists. The bookies quote 100-1 on Change UK’s Sarah Wollaston, who is not even in the party any more, but Wright doesn’t even merit a price.

Perhaps that explains the behaviour of his department when it comes to such a vexed issue: it has been steadfast in assessing Huawei’s role (and that of others in the 5G supply chain) on the basis of evidence, with the assistance of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).

Such grown up policy making is about as fashionable in a Britain where politics gets more cynical by the day as wearing an EU waistcoat to the annual UKIP ball.

Huawei is deeply controversial because of its alleged links to the Chinese government, the oft stated fears of Chinese influence over it, and the potential security implications that this might have.

The US has locked the company out and called upon others to do the same. While the Trump administration’s longstanding trade dispute with China means its motivations aren’t exactly pure, Australia, another member of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance, which the UK is part of, is also in its camp.

The British view is more equivocal than that of its allies at least in part because Huawei has invested heavily here and employs a lot of people. In a chilly post Brexit economy, that’s the sort of thing that’s handy to have.

If its role is ultimately confirmed - and my understanding is that the official announcement is very likely to be brought forward now - Huawei will be allowed to be involved in peripheral parts of the networks being set up by telecoms companies but not their cores. It was only involved with one 5G provider in that respect and that came to an end following EE's acquisition by BT.

But the Chinese company's involvement in any part of such crucial infrastructure is still too much for critics. They have argued that it’s hard to separate non core parts from the core of a 5G network.

They come from many shades of political opinion. But they are not experts.

Assuming a green light from the people at the NCSC who are, the decision would appear to be a sensible one.

But is there really any room for a sensible compromise with regards to Huawei?

So polarising has the company become that the middle way the UK has been pursuing with this corporate champion of the middle kingdom may ultimately be doomed.