Tag: Tom Tugendhat

AI: Security Minister Tom Tugendhat Says ‘Genie Won’t Go Back in the Bottle’

Security Minister Tom Tugendhat has said it is too late to suspend or halt the development of artificial intelligence (AI) because of fears about how it will be used. Italy last month said it would temporarily block the AI software ChatGPT because of unlawful data collection and problems in its age verification system. But Tugendhat,…


Security Minister Refuses to Confirm Government Action on Iran Revolutionary Guards

Britain’s security minister has refused to definitively state whether a branch of Iran’s armed forces will be proscribed after increasing concerns over the regime’s activity in the UK. Speaking in the Commons on Monday, Tom Tugendhat declined to directly answer questions from several MPs on whether the UK will make the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps…


Britain’s National Cyber Security Centre Assessing TikTok, Security Minister Says

Security minister Tom Tugendhat on Tuesday confirmed he has asked the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) to assess the “challenges” posed by apps such as TikTok. It comes one day after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told the BBC that ministers “take security of devices seriously” and are looking at “what our allies are doing” with regard to the Chinese…


Delete TikTok App to Protect Your Personal Data, Says UK Lawmaker

People should delete TikTok from their smartphones to protect their personal data from “hostile” threats, a senior British Conservative lawmaker has said. There have long been concerns around TikTok over its links to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), because its parent company ByteDance was founded in the country, and critics have raised fears data could…


UK Security Minister Tom Tugendhat Warns of CCP’s Influence on Youth Through TikTok

Britain’s Security Minister Tom Tugendhat has warned that in the run-up to the next general election large numbers of young voters will be getting their news from TikTok whose editorial board, he said, is comprised of members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Giving a speech at the Policy Exchange think tank in London on…


UK Security Minister Tom Tugendhat Warns ‘Democracy Under Attack’ After MPs’ Phones Warning

Security minister Tom Tugendhat has warned that democracy is “under attack” by hostile states—thought to be Russia, Iran, and China—after MPs were warned by the speaker of the House of Commons their mobile phones were a “potential goldmine for hostile states.” Tugendhat’s remarks follow advice given to MPs by the Speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, which…


Truss Meets New Cabinet After Rewarding Allies in Major Reshuffle

The UK’s new Prime Minister Liz Truss has held her first Cabinet meeting after a major government reshuffle, in which her close allies were rewarded with top Cabinet posts while supporters of her leadership rival Rishi Sunak were expelled. Truss became the UK’s third female prime minister on Tuesday after an audience with Queen Elizabeth…


Tugendhat Ploughs on in Conservative Leadership Race Despite Losing Votes in 2nd Round

After barely surviving the second round of field-narrowing votes on Thursday, Conservative Party leadership hopeful Tom Tugendhat said he will stay in the race. Tugendhat secured 32 votes from his colleagues, the fewest among the five remaining candidates, but the former soldier said he had never turned down a challenge because the odds were against him, adding,…


China Exerting Growing Influence Over Global Tech Standards, UK Lawmakers Warn

The Chinese regime and other malign actors are trying to exert their influence over global technological standards, but the UK government’s response has been “incoherent and muted,” a committee of MPs has warned. In its latest report published on July 8, the Foreign Affairs Select Committee in the House of Commons said that malign actors…


Tory Backbencher Tom Tugendhat Launches Bid to Succeed Boris Johnson as Prime Minister

Tom Tugendhat, a backbench Conservative MP who chairs the Foreign Affairs Committee in the House of Commons, has thrown his hat into the ring to succeed Boris Johnson as party leader and prime minister. Tugendhat was the first contender to launch a leadership bid after Johnson announced his resignation as Tory party leader on July…