Boris Johnson's Government will face its first test on foreign takeovers next week when the Business Secretary makes the final decision on Cobham's future.

A public consultation will close on Tuesday night about the commitments the defence firm's buyer, US private equity giant Advent International, will need to make for the Government to approve the deal.

Andrea Leadsom will then be free to choose whether to clear the deal with conditions that include notifying the Ministry of Defence of plans to sell the company or any of its divisions.

Business Secretary Andrea Leadsom will makes the final decision on Cobham next week

There is no deadline for her to announce her decision, but it could come as soon as next week.

Advent swooped on the FTSE 250-listed air-to-air refuelling specialist in July in a 165p-per-share deal.

In September, Leadsom launched a surprise intervention in the takeover, which had been waved through by Cobham shareholders, and ordered the Competition and Markets Authority to probe whether it was a threat to national security.