
US secretary of state Mike Pompeo has issued a humiliating warning to the UK that it could lose access to vital American intelligence if it does not distance itself from Chinese tech firm Huawei - before taking an apparent sideswipe at Theresa May.

After meeting Mrs May on a visit to London, and in a stinging criticism of the Prime Minister, Donald Trump's top diplomat invoked the memory of 'Iron Lady' Margaret Thatcher, asking: 'Would she have allowed China to control to control the internet of the future?'

Earlier he had stood alongside Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt and warned that the US would not allow access to its secrets to countries who were not using 'trusted networks'.

Washington is urging allies to keep Huawei out of sensitive infrastructure programmes, citing fears that the company may provide a route for China's communist regime to spy on the West.

But Mrs May had reportedly gave the green light to the company bidding for work on 'non-core' aspects of the hi-tech 5G network at a secret meeting, overruling concerns from ministers including Gavin Williamson, who was later sacked as defence secretary over suspicions that he had leaked details of discussions.

Giving the Margaret Thatcher Lecture for the CPS think tank at Lancaster House in London, with Mr Hunt looking on, he said: 'Ask yourself: would the Iron Lady be silent when China violates the sovereignty of nations through corruption or coercion?

'I know it is a sensitive topic but we have to talk about sensitive things as friends.

'As a matter of Chinese law the Chinese government can rightfully demand access to data flowing through Huawei and (telecoms firm) ZTE systems.

'Why would anyone grant such power to a regime that has already grossly violated cyberspace?'

Mr Pompeo today became the first member of President Donald Trump's administration to speak face-to-face with the Prime Minister since last month's National Security Council agreed to consider Huawei's involvement

Shortly after they posed for pictures inside Number 10 today, Donald Trump's top diplomat appeared to turn the screw on May at a speech in Lancaster House by asking the audience: 'Would Margaret Thatcher have allowed China to control to control the internet of the future?'

Later, giving the Margaret Thatcher Lecture, Mr Pompeo said: 'Why would anyone grant such power to a regime that has already grossly violated cyberspace?'

His broadside came hours after he stood alongside Hunt at the Foreign Office to praise the UK-US special relationship. Mr Pompeo said: 'I have great confidence that the UK will never take an action that will break the special relationship'

Mr Hunt told reporters no decision had been taken on whether the UK will permit Huawei involvement in its 5G network

Pompeo blasts Corbyn over support for Venezuela's Maduro Mike Pompeo hit out at Jeremy Corbyn over the crisis in Venezuela, condemned the 'disgusting' support of some political leaders in Western countries for leftist dictator Nicolas Maduro. In response to a question about the Labour leader's backing for Mr Maduro, Mr Pompeo said: 'It is disgusting to see leaders, not only in the United Kingdom but in the United States as well, who continue to support the murderous dictator Maduro. 'No leader from a country with Western democratic values ought to stand behind them.' In February Mr Corbyn was criticised by Brendan Cox, the widower of murdered Labour MP Jo Cox and a former chief strategist at Save the Children, who accused him of 'defending a dictator' over his stance on the beleaguered Latin American nation. More recently the Labour leader has criticised outside interference in Caracas' affairs. Opposition leader Juan Guaido has the backing of the US and the UK has recognised him as interim president, but Mr Maduro maintains his grip on power. Jeremy Hunt added: 'This is a country where three million people have fled the country, GDP has gone down by 40 per cent in the last four years, people can't access basic medicine, people are rifling through rubbish bags to get food in the streets. '(Shadow chancellor) John McDonnell describes this as socialism in action and I think people need to draw their own conclusions about what his own plans might be for the UK.' A Labour spokesman said the party opposed outside interference in Venezuela 'whether from the US or anywhere else'. Advertisement

Mr Pompeo is the first member of President Donald Trump's administration to speak face-to-face with the PM and Mr Hunt since last month's National Security Council meeting.

Earlier, speaking alongside the Foreign Secretary at the Foreign Office this afternoon he told reporters: 'I have great confidence that the UK will never take an action that will break the special relationship.

'With respect to 5G, we will continue to have technical discussions.

'We are making our views very well know. From America's perspective each country has a sovereign right to make its own decision about how to deal with the challenge.

'The US has an obligation to ensure that places where we operate, places where American information is, places where we have our national security at risk, that they operate inside trusted networks and we that is what we will do.'

He urged the British Government to be 'vigilant and vocal against a host of Chinese activities that undermine the sovereignty of all nations'.

He said: 'China peddles corrupt infrastructure deals in return for political influence.

'Its bribe-fuelled debt diplomacy undermines good governance and threatens to upend the free market model on which so many countries depend.'

Mr Hunt told reporters no decision had been taken on whether the UK will permit Huawei involvement in its 5G network.

'With respect to Huawei and 5G, we have not made our final decision as a Government,' he said. 'We are considering the evidence very carefully.

'But we would never take a decision that compromised our ability to share intelligence with our Five Eyes colleagues, in particular with the United States.

'We are absolutely clear that the security relationship that we have with the United States is what has underpinned the international order since 1945 and has led to unparalleled peace and prosperity, and the preservation of that is our number one foreign policy priority.'

The secretary of state arrived in Downing Street today after the Prime Minister had been warned that it would be 'naive to the point of negligence' to give Huawei further access to the UK's network.

Julian Lewis, chairman of the Commons Defence Committee, made the warning at Prime Minister's Questions, but the Prime Minister insisted that she would do nothing to jeopardise the UK's national security.

'We are taking a robust, risk-based approach that's right for our UK market and network, and that addresses the UK national security needs,' she told MPs.

Mr Pompeo leaves Downing Street today after meeting Theresa May, en route to holding a press conference at the Foreign Office with Jeremy Hunt

He is also holding talks with Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt about UK/US relations and Iran, in central London

Mr Pompeo also met Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby at Lambeth Palace, where he signed the guest book

Gavin Williamson was sacked as defence secretary after being accused of leaking the Huawei information from the NSC to a newspaper - something he denies

Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou was arrested at Vancouver's airport in December on a US warrant and is fighting extradition on fraud charges that she misled global banks about Huawei's relationship with a company operating in Iran. She now wears an ankle monitor and is in legal battle against the US' request that she should be extradited to face fraud charges. She is pictured leaving her family home in Vancouver wearing the monitor

Trump 'eager' for post-Brexit trade deal Donald Trump is 'eager' to do a trade deal with the UK, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said, as he urged Britain get it sorted 'soon'. On his visit to London he hailed the special relationship between the two nations and said it would continue. He told a press conference with Jeremy Hunt: 'Our great hope is that Brexit can be resolved soon because President Trump is eager to strike a bilateral trade agreement that expands on our number one trade relationship.' Later, giving a lecture at a think tank he added that after Brexit was 'settled' the UK would be 'first in line for a trade deal, not at the end of the queue'. His support for a trade deal follows similar positive overtures from ambassador Woody Johnson. But critics have warned about US environmental and animal welfare standards, claiming we may have to adopt them in order to strike a deal including American agricultural products. But Mr Pompeo's welcoming tone contrasted with President Trump. In March he tore into Theresa May over her handling of Brexit, saying she could have made a success of it if she had listened to his advice. The US president said he was 'surprised how badly it has gone' as he spoke to reporters at the White House alongside Irish premier Leo Varadkar. Advertisement

'The UK is not considering any options that would put our national security communications at risk, either within the UK or with our closest allies.

'No-one takes national security more seriously than I do ... I think my record speaks for itself.'

International Trade Secretary Liam Fox, one of the Cabinet's most ardent supporters of links with Washington, insisted there was 'much less of a difference' between the UK and US than some had claimed.

'When it comes to dealing with China, our analysis of the problems doesn't vary much from the United States,' he said at a trade conference in London.

He insisted that no decision on Huawei had officially been taken by the Government and 'we need to take into account the issues of an open trading system but we also have to ensure protection, particularly of our critical national infrastructure, and that we'll do'.

Mr Pompeo warned earlier this year that the US will not 'partner' with countries that adopt Huawei systems.

'We've made clear that if the risk exceeds the threshold for the United States, we simply won't be able to share that information any longer,' he said last month.

In talks at 10 Downing Street, Mr Pompeo is also expected to step up US pressure on the UK to isolate Iran.

He made a surprise visit to Iraq immediately before his trip to London, assuring Baghdad that the US opposes other states 'interfering in their country' and stands ready 'to ensure that Iraq is a sovereign, independent nation'.

Mr Trump last year unilaterally pulled the US out of an international nuclear deal with Iran, but the UK and other European powers have refused to follow his lead.

Tensions have escalated in recent days as Washington deployed the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln to the Gulf.

Mr Trump's national security adviser John Bolton said the move sent 'a clear and unmistakable message to the Iranian regime that any attack on United States interest or on those of our allies will be met with unrelenting force'.

UK must bring home British Islamic State fighters in Syria, says Pompeo Mike Pompeo risked a clash with the UK over foreign Islamic State fighters today when he said the US expected its allies to take responsibility for their own people. Speaking in London he discussed the combatants detained in Syria following the collapse of the hardline Islamist enclave. The UK has so far said that it wants British nationals held in the war-ravaged area to be dealt with locally. They include Shamima Begum, now 19, who left her Bethnal Green home in 2015 for the Syrian city of Raqqa and married a Dutch jihadi, who has had her British citizenship revoked. But in comments that are likely to go down badly in Downing Street, the US secretary of state told reporters in London: 'We have an expectation that every country will work to take back their foreign fighters and continue to hold those foreign fighters. 'We think that's essential. There are 70,000 people at a camp there - some women and children - and we've got to sort through that.' He added: 'We've rounded them up, they are now detained and they need to continue to be detained so they cannot present additional risk to anyone anywhere in the world.' Mr Hunt said the UK was 'working closely' with the US on how to deal with foreign fighters. 'We have to keep an eye on both the security of the United Kingdom, but also make sure there is due process,' said the Foreign Secretary. 'We are looking at all the options available to us in this situation.' Advertisement



