China ‘stole vast amounts of classified material from UK government’ for years but breach ‘was covered up’

Former No 10 chief Dominic Cummings has revealed that China has been stealing “massive amounts” of classified material from the government for years.

Boris Johnson’s aide said he and the former Prime Minister were informed of the “serious” breach in 2020 that contained “extremely dangerous” information.

But they were apparently told that it would be illegal to reveal what happened.

The dramatic intervention comes amid a growing row over relations with China and, in particular, the collapse of an espionage case.

Mr Cummings said Times The breach concerned ‘Strap’ material, the most sensitive level of classification.

‘The cabinet secretary said: ‘We need to explain something, there is a serious problem’ and explained what it was,’ he said.

‘And it was so strange that not only Boris but several people in the room were looking around like: “Am I somehow misunderstanding what you’re saying? Because it sounds so crazy.”

Mr Cummings added: ‘What I am saying is that some of Strap’s information was compromised and a large amount of data was compromised which is classified as highly confidential and extremely dangerous for any foreign entity to control.

‘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 this has very, very serious consequences.’

Mr Cummings refused to say how the system was breached.

‘If MPs finally want to hold an inquiry into this, I’d be happy to talk about it,’ he said.

‘And many people know that what I say is true, and many people will support it.

‘And many people know that after the Prime Minister was briefed on this in 2020, Cabinet Office officials told everyone at the meeting that it was illegal for them to discuss this issue with the media.’

The Spectator also published on Wednesday allegations of a cover-up of foreign espionage scandals in the UK.

A source told the magazine: ‘There were two very serious cases, one involving China and the other involving Russia, that were swept under the rug.

‘There was a serious loss of technical data.’

Another source said: ‘Population and activity levels are much higher than publicly disclosed.’

It has also been reported that China has acquired a company that controls a data center used by Whitehall departments to exchange information, including on highly classified projects.

An insider described the episode as a ‘stratospheric disgrace’.

The allegations emerged just after Sir Keir Starmer promised to release key evidence that formed part of the collapsed Chinese spying case.

The Crown Prosecution Service said the case collapsed because the Government’s evidence did not show that China posed a threat to national security at the time of the alleged crimes.

But Sir Keir insisted the ‘substantial’ evidence was presented by the Conservatives and that further statements given to the CPS subsequently reflected the Tory leadership’s position.

The Prime Minister has told the House of Commons that he plans to release the full witness statements prepared by deputy national security adviser Matt Collins.

Friends of Mr Collins told The Spectator he had presented evidence that would have been sufficient and ‘did not understand’ why the case was dropped.

They said: ‘He declared all these evidence. The CPS told him that was exactly what they needed and at the last minute they said they would not proceed with the prosecution.

‘Criminal men and women are actually in the CPS. ‘They’re the ones who dropped the ball.’

Mr Cummings described it as ‘absolutely childish nonsense’ to suggest that whether to describe China as a threat was ‘a difficult semantic question’.

‘Anyone with high-level knowledge of China in the intelligence services knows that the word threat does not even cover it,’ he said.