This afternoon Boris Johnson came close to losing a Commons vote for the first time since the election. Over 30 Tory MPs broke a three-line whip in order to protest over the government’s decision to allow the Chinese company Huawei to be involved in the UK’s 5G network. The government saw off the rebellion by Tory MPs over an amendment calling for Huawei to be removed from the 5G network in two years time if it is still deemed ‘high risk’ by British cybersecurity experts by 306 votes to 282. This means that the government’s working majority of 87 was cut to 24.
The rebellion was spearheaded by Iain Duncan Smith who was backed by Damian Green, David Davis, Owen Paterson, Tom Tugendhat and Bob Seely. In a bid to dissuade MPs to join the rebellion – and to convince Duncan Smith and others to call the vote off – Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden had sent a letter to colleagues along with a plea at the despatch box.
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