Washington is furious at Boris’s Huawei bid

Boris Johnson faced his first major rebellion of the new parliament on Tuesday. Parliamentarians are waking up to the fact that this decision has far greater diplomatic ramifications than was originally appreciated. Despite their sizeable majority, the government narrowly avoided defeat and will be vulnerable when future bills relating to Huawei are tabled.

The reaction in Washington DC to Boris Johnson’s decision to allow Huawei to tender for the 5G contract validates the concerns of the new ‘awkward squad’ of former cabinet ministers and Tory select committee chairs. Rarely have Democrats and Republicans been so united. Capitol Hill seldom pays much attention to Britain, but everyone from Chuck Schumer, the leader of the Senate Democrats and the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Liz Cheney, the third most powerful Republican in the House of Representatives, have all slammed the decision. There is a consensus, in Cheney’s words, that: ‘Allowing the company into the UK’s 5G networks would pose a national security threat that could not be mitigated or contained.