Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng faces a furious backlash from his own party after he moved to water down rules designed to prevent hostile foreign takeovers of British firms.
Kwarteng has caused tensions with fellow Conservative MPs after he quietly tabled an amendment to the National Security and Investment Bill – which aims to impose stringent safeguards on foreign ownership of UK companies – to cut the number of deals that are monitored.
The bill comes amid growing concern that Chinese companies, with close ties to the Communist regime in Beijing, have been able to buy up strategic assets in defence, energy, communications and technology to gain a 'back door' into the UK.