David Davis – Huawei decision could be among worst ever made
The former Brexit Secretary David Davis joined Andrew Marr this morning to argue the case against involving the Chinese tech giant Huawei in the UK’s rollout of 5G infrastructure. Davis said that because this arrangement had the power to compromise the ‘Five Eyes’ agreement on intelligence sharing between the UK and its Anglophone partners, it could pose a serious risk to national security:
DD: China will score a success with this if what they do is fracture the ‘Five Eyes’… [Johnson] will not want… historians to look back and say that was the worst decision a British Prime Minister made in however many years.
Dominic Cummings is ‘here today, gone tomorrow’
Davis also aimed a small barb at the Prime Minister’s closest special adviser Dominic Cummings, after criticising the way in which Cummings was attempting to shake up the Whitehall machine:
Nicola Sturgeon – I intend to stay on
Scotland’s First Minister told Marr that, despite some rumblings of discontent on her backbenches, she fully intends to continue leading the SNP for a good few years to come:
NS: I do intend to lead my party into the next Scottish Parliament election… I have to be sure that I want to do this job, that I’m the best person to do this job, that I have the drive and energy, and that is emphatically the case.
Indyref2 battle could be decided in court
Marr quizzed Sturgeon on how she would counter Boris Johnson’s likely refusal to grant the SNP’s request for a second Scottish independence referendum. Though Sturgeon said she was reluctant to pursue the high-risk strategy of holding the referendum regardless, she confirmed this was at least on the table:
AM: So you’d be challenging Boris Johnson to take you to court?…
NS: I’ve not ruled it out, but it’s not something I am looking at actively as my preferred option right now.
George Eustice – PM ‘has been engaged’ in flood response
Sophy Ridge spoke to the newly appointed Environment Secretary George Eustice, who defended the Prime Minister’s lack of visibility during the recent spate of flooding across the country:
GE: It’s not true that the Prime Minister hasn’t been engaged in this… It’s right that on certain operational things such as this, the Prime Minister will ask one of his cabinet members to lead. I can’t see anything wrong with that.
Diane Abbott – Social media should have people’s name and address
And finally, the Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott called for an end to online anonymity across social media in order to combat trolling:
DA: You could post under a pseudonym, but Twitter or Facebook or whoever should actually have your name or address, because when we try and follow up some of the really abusive things and threats of violence online, we cannot trace the people.
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