ANY QUOTES USED MUST BE ATTRIBUTED TO SKY NEWS, SOPHY RIDGE ON SUNDAY

SOPHY RIDGE: Let’s go back to the Conservative leadership contest now and this week the field of ten candidates was whittled down to just six and of course the campaigns are issuing carrots, sticks and anything else they can find in their cupboards to try and persuade MPs to support them. We are joined now from Bournemouth by Defence Minister Tobias Ellwood, thank you for being on the programme. Now you have kept a bit of a tight lid on who you’re backing in the leadership race so I was hoping you might be able to tell us this morning.

TOBIAS ELLWOOD: Well can I firstly pay tribute to Matt Hancock who ran a really energetic and vibrant campaign. You talked about international tensions, he wanted to invest up to 3% in defence, he wanted to harness technology, to promote and improve our economy and he wanted to reform our party but those messages I’m afraid were suffocated by the subject of Brexit so I do hope whoever becomes Prime Minister will look at Matt, look at his talents and make sure that they include him.

SR: So did you vote for Matt Hancock in the last round then?

TOBIAS ELLWOOD: Well of course we voted for Matt, we wanted Matt to move forward. What we want to do now is of course recognise that Boris seems to be the runaway winner and the natural cause will be to move and support him. That rugby ball has popped out of the scrum and he’s grabbed it but the question is though, do we just allow him to walk across to the touchline and put the ball down and have that coronation? I don't think that’s right, I actually want to see Boris tested. The nation is watching us, we should utilise this opportunity to showcase, to road test policies so that we deserve to remain in Number 10. So I ask my colleagues to say who will electrify this contest, who will actually test Boris and get him to raise his game, who will actually allow this to go beyond our base? I believe that Boris Johnson in one corner and Rory Stewart in another, that is a competition that will be exciting so bring that on.

SR: So just to be clear, you voted for Matt Hancock last time and now you are going to switch and vote for Rory Stewart this time round?

TOBIAS ELLWOOD: That’s correct.

SR: Do you think Boris Johnson will be a good Prime Minister?

TOBIAS ELLWOOD: Well if you look at his policies and where they are, he is actually a centre right pragmatist, he is very much wanting to move Britain forward. There is this huge issue over Brexit that dominates and I think he would make a fine Prime Minister. My concern is the fact that he may be wanting to tilt towards no deal and that is a big concern for me. That would damage our economy, it would damage our reputation internationally and also damage our security prospects as well. With Rory Stewart we have somebody who is committed to make sure we leave with a deal and that is what I would like to see.

SR: So how far do you go in order to prevent a no deal? If for example Boris Johnson become Prime Minister and the government policy becomes to pursue a no deal Brexit if the negotiations fail, would you vote against the government in a confidence motion?

TOBIAS ELLWOOD: Well I am wanting to pursue this conversation now beyond our party base to say absolutely we should avoid that, I don't think it’s right to start committing yourselves one way or another. We need to make the case, to make the argument to say we understand why no deal seems to be attractive right now, running away from a situation where we haven’t found a solution for the last three years but that doesn’t take us into a good place. It will actually see the breakup of the Union, it doesn’t answer the Northern Ireland question at all and it isn’t something that anybody really voted for back in 2016. We need to be better than that and I think there is appetite in the EU to say let’s get a deal across the line. What’s really interesting is that every single candidate – Rory Stewart and Boris Johnson and all of them have said two things, one let’s unite the party, secondly let’s resolve Brexit. If we can get every one of those candidates themselves to work together, to say we are committed to support the new Prime Minister to get the deal – we don’t have the numbers to get this across the line.

SR: Okay now I’m keen to move on and talk to you about some issues with your ministerial hat on because we’ve seen a ratcheting up of tensions with Iran, haven’t we, with the attacks on those two oil tankers and there are reports this morning that Royal Marines have been sent to the Gulf to try and protect British warships. Can you just tell us what’s happening there and are you worried about conflict with Iran?

TOBIAS ELLWOOD: Well these tensions that are arising are a concern for us all. The Straits of Hormuz is an active international passage for oil and other commodities to come out, it’s important that they are free, that they are able to move without the problems or the challenges that we face and when I visited the region I am aware that there have been a lot of skirmishes that take place, not to the level that we’ve seen in the last few days but nevertheless tensions are rising. Let’s not forget that Iran has a proxy influence, a negative influence, in Syria, in Bahrain, in Iraq and indeed in other countries as well and that is causing extra tensions in the Middle East itself. I understand the frustrations over the nuclear deal but that does not give licence to start attacking ships in the Straits of Hormuz.

SR: So have Royal Marines been sent there?

TOBIAS ELLWOOD: Well this is operational decisions. Penny Mordaunt, the Defence Secretary, I’m sure will provide more clarity on that next week. We have a substantial presence in the Middle East that looks after our interests there, we understand the Middle East, we have a number of allies there as well. We will be working with the United States to make sure this area is safe and to make sure that we actually de-escalate the tensions there but I don't think Iran should be under any doubt, the fact that we will be determined to protect our assets and our interests in the region.

SR: And then just finally, Sky News has learned this week that there was a Chines company, a Chinese owned company that was involved in the production of circuit boards for F35 war planes used by the UK and the US. Now of course this comes off the back of concerns around Huawei being involved in the 5G network. Are you worried about the involvement of Chinese companies and do you think the UK government has been a little bit naïve?

TOBIAS ELLWOOD: I don't think we’ve been naïve, this is an active question that we need to decide how we use intelligence, who our friends are and how we deal with a very, very changing world. What we are seeing with this relationship with Huawei and its own nation, its own state, China, they operate on different rules than we do and we need to make sure that our core infrastructural assets when it comes to 5G are protected and are not vulnerable. The scale of change that our life will go through with the rollout of 5G from communications to the way we do business, it means that vulnerability will be there and we need to be able to make sure that we can guarantee that safety and so there are further questions to be asked I think before the decision is made one way or another.

SR: Okay, thanks very much for being on the programme this morning, Tobias Ellwood. One more vote there for Rory Stewart.