Portrait of the week: Withdrawal Agreement signed, Huawei allowed in – and coronavirus spreads

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Using a Parker fountain pen (a brand now made in Nantes), Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, signed the EU withdrawal agreement, which had been signed by Charles Michel, the President of the European Council, and Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission, in Brussels and sent to London by train. The Queen had given royal assent to the Withdrawal Bill. All that remained was for the agreement to be rubber-stamped by the European Parliament to allow the United Kingdom to leave the European Union at 11 p.m. GMT on 31 January. A 50p coin was minted, inscribed: ‘Peace, prosperity and friendship with all nations’; Lord Adonis declared: ‘I am never using or accepting this coin.’ Professor Selina Todd, a historian at St Hilda’s College, Oxford, was given protection at lectures because of threats by transgender campaigners who disapproved of her academic findings.

The government decided to allow the Chinese company Huawei a part in developing 5G wireless technology for mobile networks, but to be banned from supplying equipment to ‘sensitive parts’ and from working in areas near military bases and nuclear sites. In a telephone conversation with President Donald Trump of the United States, Boris Johnson said Britain would work with America to ‘break the dominance’ of companies like Huawei.

No one had taken account of how complex and risky the HS2 high-speed rail project might be, the National Audit Office said. Leaked information from the review by Doug Oakervee had put the likely cost at £106 billion. In the past five years, 38 people have been killed on so-called smart motorways, with no hard shoulder, a Freedom of Information request informed Panorama, the BBC television programme.

Rolls-Royce said it could manufacture small nuclear energy reactors, each occupying 1.5 acres, for sites in England and Wales by 2029.