Boris Johnson’s decision tomorrow on whether to grant the Chinese tech giant Huawei access to Britain’s new 5G system will tell us more about this administration than any other he is likely to make. It is perhaps understandable that every British prime minister since Tony Blair has seen the rise of China as an opportunity for the UK economy. But what is astonishing is the extent to which members of the establishment have become so intertwined with Chinese businesses, usually for personal gain, that legitimate concerns about our sovereignty and national security have been ignored.

When George Osborne visited China in 2015 as Chancellor of the Exchequer he said that the UK would be its “best partner in the west” and he meant it. Perhaps Hinkley Point C, the most expensive nuclear power station in the world, is the best example of this. To fund this multi-billion pound behemoth, the British government entered into a fiendishly complicated financial agreement with Électricité de France (EDF), the French energy giant, and China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN), a state-run Chinese energy company. British taxpayers may still be footing the bill for this highly questionable project in the 2060s.

It is no exaggeration to say that Chinese business opportunities now seem to be the number one priority for our civil servants, retired politicians and pro-EU big businesses. The cast of characters on Huawei’s UK board tells its own story. They include former BP boss Lord Browne, ennobled by Tony Blair and enabled by David Cameron; Sir Andrew Cahn, a senior civil servant who worked closely with Neil Kinnock at the European Commission; and John Suffolk, once the civil service information officer. The late Dame Helen Alexander, a former boss of the pro-EU Confederation of British Industry, was also a director. Or consider David Cameron, now officially recognised as an interlocutor between the British and Chinese governments.