Conservative leadership contenders suggest government U-turn on Huawei ahead of Trump visit

Jeremy Hunt and Sajid Javid express security concerns about Chinese tech giant

Two Tory leadership contenders have suggested they would reconsider Huawei’s involvement in the UK’s 5G network, as Donald Trump also waded into the debate ahead of his state visit.

Jeremy Hunt, the foreign secretary, and Sajid Javid, the home secretary, both expressed concerns – on the eve of Mr Trump’s trip – about allowing the Chinese tech firm to join the project.

It came after the US president urged Britain to be “very careful” because of national security issues and the potential implications for intelligence sharing between the allies.

Theresa May was reported to have overruled objections to Huawei’s involvement at a National Security Council meeting In April. A leak of the plans led to the dismissal of Gavin Williamson as defence secretary, although ministers have insisted that no final decision has been made.

In a sign of divisions within cabinet over the issue, Mr Javid said he would not want “any company, whichever country it’s from, that has a high degree of control by a foreign government, to have access to our very sensitive tech communications”.

Meanwhile, Mr Hunt also told US TV station CBS: “We have to ask as western countries whether it is wise to allow one country to have such a commanding monopoly in the technologies that we’re all of us going to be depending on.”

He added: “We would never take a decision that would affect our intelligence-sharing capabilities with the US.

“We have to look at at the technical issues that are around whether buying products from a specific country could be a back door to espionage, and we are looking at those very carefully.”

Both men are among the 13 candidates standing to replace Ms May as leader of the Conservative Party.

US ambassador Woody Johnson also waded into the issue on Sunday, telling BBC’s Andrew Marr Show that he would “caution” the government to move much more slowly on the Huawei decision.

He said: “I understand the British are not conclusively doing this.”

It is thought Mr Trump and Ms May will discuss the issue when they meet for talks on Tuesday. The prime minister has said she is looking forward to building on the “strong and enduring ties” between the UK and US.

Mr Johnson denied the Huawei debate would be the biggest issue and added: “I think he is going to speak in broader terms about the relationships we share at the level of prosperity and security.”

The Trump administration claims Huawei - the world’s largest maker of telecoms equipment - could use its equipment to spy on behalf of the Chinese government and is therefore a threat to international cybersecurity.

Last month the US placed the firm on its “entity list”, which bans US companies from doing business with it. As a result Google suspended Huawei’s Android license, restricting it from using key technology that powers its smartphones.