Chinese stole secrets from No. 10 for YEARS: Newly exposed outrage by communist regime heaps fresh pressure on Starmer over collapsed spying case

China has been able to steal Britain’s state secrets for years by using a backdoor into sensitive Whitehall computer systems, it emerged on Wednesday night.

In a disastrous mistake, the Mail understands the Chinese were allowed to buy a company that controlled a data center used by government departments to exchange information, including on highly classified projects.

Former No 10 aide Dominic Cummings said yesterday the communist superpower had managed to steal a ‘large quantity’ of supplies, including some with the highest security classification.

Boris Johnson’s former chief adviser said the disastrous incident was ‘buried’ as part of a pattern of Whitehall behavior in which ‘the British state has prioritized Chinese money over its own security for decades’.

The statement comes as Sir Keir Starmer continues to battle allegations that the government played a role in the collapse of the case against two men, one of whom was a parliamentary investigator, accused of spying for Beijing.

He is putting pressure on the Prime Minister to stop Labour’s rush to embrace China as it seeks to improve its flagging record on the economy.

The dropping of espionage charges against former parliamentary investigator Chris Cash and his friend Christopher Berry last month triggered a fierce political debate.

Director of prosecutions Stephen Parkinson laid the blame at the government’s door after a national security adviser refused to say China was Britain’s enemy, dashing hopes of a conviction under the Official Secrets Act.

During angry clashes in the House of Commons, the Prime Minister denied the government played a role in the collapse of the China spy case

But Mr Cummings said the word threat ‘doesn’t even come within the scope of that’.

He described an episode in which the then Cabinet Secretary, Sir Mark Sedwill, revealed that China had had access to top-secret material for years.

“I watched (Boris Johnson) and (Rishi) Sunak both say ‘what the fuck’ and look around in open-mouthed astonishment in 2020 when the cabinet secretary announced a truly astonishing penetration of critical infrastructure,” he said.

He said the incident was ‘confidential to the maximum’ and that’s why no one was fired.

Whitehall sources have denied the network handling the most sensitive government information has been ‘hacked’ by Beijing.

A Cabinet Office spokesman said: ‘It is inaccurate to claim that the systems we use to transfer the most sensitive government information have been compromised.’

But the sources did not dispute the claim, first reported by Spectator magazine, that China had bought a firm that controlled a data center used by the Whitehall network; but they insisted that all materials remain encrypted.

To prevent any repeat, the National Security and Investment Bill 2021 was introduced the following year.

The law, which came into force in January 2022, gave the government the authority to examine and intervene in commercial transactions to protect national security.

In an interview with the Times, Mr Cummings said the files accessed by China contained “Strap” material, the highest level of classification.

‘Some Strap material was seized and a large amount of data was seized which is classified as highly classified and extremely dangerous for control by any foreign entity,’ he said.

‘Material from intelligence services. Material from the National Security Secretariat in the Cabinet Office. Things the government is supposed to keep secret. If these are not secret then there are very, very serious consequences.’

Mr Cummings said the disastrous incident was deliberately covered up by the authorities.

Former security minister Tom Tugendhat publicly confirmed Mr Cummings’ version of the incident, telling LBC Radio: ‘Yes… I don’t want to go into detail, but the gist of what Dominic Cummings put out is correct.’

Theresa May and the Chinese President at a meeting in Beijing in February 2018

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch speaks during Prime Minister’s Questions

Mr Cummings said disastrous incident was deliberately covered up by authorities

Former Tory Cabinet minister Sir Ben Wallace refused to comment on the specific allegation made by Mr Cummings but denied the previous government had ‘covered up’ Chinese spying to avoid embarrassment.

Sir Ben pointed out that the last government banned Chinese telecom giant Huawei from the UK’s 5G network for security reasons.

He told the Mail: ‘There’s a reason why governments don’t talk about our enemies’ successful and unsuccessful attempts to access our secrets. This is not a conspiracy or cover-up; because uncertainty is supposed to be crucial in maintaining our security.’

Conservative MP Alicia Kearns, one of the alleged targets in the collapsed spy case, has called on the Prime Minister to halt efforts to deepen trade ties and veto plans for a controversial mega-Chinese embassy in London due to be decided next week.

He told the Mail: ‘In light of this evidence, it is inconceivable that the Government will continue to pursue deeper relations with the Chinese Communist Party. ‘They shouldn’t be giving China a huge spy base in the heart of London.’

Ms Kearns said Foreign Office chief Sir Ollie Robbins should be immediately recalled from his trip to China, which was paving the way for Sir Keir’s planned trade mission in the new year.

He added: ‘Starmer must stop putting national security second to his desperation for China to fix his and his Chancellor’s economic mismanagement.’

Parliament’s joint committee on national security strategy also called on housing minister Steve Reed to block China’s application to build a major new embassy in the heart of the city.

In a highly unusual intervention, the cross-party committee said the application was ‘not in the UK’s national interest’

The committee’s Labor chairman, Matt Western, said the proposed location presented ‘peacetime eavesdropping risks and crisis sabotage risks’ due to its proximity to fibre-optic cables, data centers and telecommunications exchanges serving Canary Wharf and the City.

He also noted reports of plans for basements and tunnels and said security services had warned that allowing Beijing to establish Europe’s largest embassy would create a hub for the country to expand its ‘intelligence gathering and intimidation operations’.

During angry clashes in the House of Commons, the Prime Minister denied the government played a role in the collapse of the Chinese spy case.

Former security minister Tom Tugendhat publicly confirmed Mr Cummings’ version of the incident, telling LBC Radio: ‘Yes… I don’t want to go into detail, but the gist of what Dominic Cummings put out is correct.’

Former Tory Cabinet minister Sir Ben Wallace refused to comment on the specific allegation made by Mr Cummings but denied the previous government had ‘covered up’ Chinese spying to avoid embarrassment.

He said the government would release the full witness statements given to the Crown Prosecution Service by deputy national security adviser Matthew Collins and said he was “deeply disappointed” by the collapse of the case.

Downing Street later revealed that the Prime Minister had been informed ‘a few days’ in advance that the Chinese spying case was at risk of collapse but did nothing to intervene.

The Prime Minister’s spokesman told reporters: ‘The Prime Minister was informed of the possibility of the case not proceeding only a few days before the court was to be informed.’

But if he did anything when he was told the case was at risk of collapse, his spokesman suggested it was not his place to intervene.

The spokesman said it was “the role of the DPP (director of public inquiries) or the CPS (Crown Prosecution Service) to decide a criminal case” and not Sir Keir’s involvement.

Mr Cummings said No10 was informed in 2020 but it was unclear when the purchase in Beijing took place, potentially under the premierships of Theresa May or David Cameron, heralding a ‘golden age’ in UK-China relations.

It was understood that the data center used by the Whitehall network was related to sensitive information.

However, the data center was denied to contain top secret information because it was stored on a different system.