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.
After Brexit and Huawei, UK must weigh big bet on chips
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Imagination launches new specialist division
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Imagination Technologies loses chief of staff after Chinese ownership row
It comes just weeks after the Telegraph revealed the company s former CEO was suing Imagination
Credit: HANNAH MCKAY/Reuters
Imagination Technologies has lost a fourth executive in less than a year, amid an overhaul of the British chip designer s leadership team in the wake of a bitter boardroom row.
Woz Ahmed has stepped down from his role as Imagination s chief strategy officer and chief of staff, saying in a post on LinkedIn that he had decided that now is a good time to leave .
His departure comes amid a slew of executive changes at the company, starting last April when boss Ron Black left the company in the wake of claims its Beijing backers were plotting to appoint representatives to its board.