China ‘stole vast amounts’ of classified UK documents
UK intelligence has been “compromised” after China stole classified UK government documents over several years, a former senior adviser to Boris Johnson has claimed.
Dominic Cummings, who served as a senior adviser to former Prime Minister Boris Johnson for over a year, has said that classified material was stolen by China and the label “threat” does not go far enough.
In a week where the collapse of a Chinese spy case has engulfed independent prosecutors, the civil service and parliamentarians in a humiliating row over the UK’s national security, Cummings’ comments suggest that China’s interference goes far beyond what is known to the public.
In an interview with The Times, he said “Strap” material, a term for highly classified documents, had been taken and that any refusal to describe China as a threat was “ludicrous”.
He described a Downing Street meeting in 2020:
“The cabinet secretary said, ‘We have to explain something. There’s been a serious problem’.
“He talked through what this was. And it was so bizarre that, not just Boris, a few people in the room were looking around like this — ‘Am I somehow misunderstanding what he’s saying? Because it sounds f***ing crazy’.”
“What I’m saying is that some Strap stuff was compromised and vast amounts of data classified as extremely secret and extremely dangerous for any foreign entity to control was compromised.
“Material from intelligence services. Material from the National Security Secretariat in the Cabinet Office. Things the government has to keep secret. If they’re not secret, then there are very, very serious implications for it.”
Cummings did not tell the newspaper how the system had been breached and said he would be willing to tell MPs what he knew about the leak.
He also accused senior civil servants over covering up the breach and that he had previously been warned that disclosing specific details of it would be a criminal offence.
“Many people know that what I’m saying is true and many people will back it up.
“Many people know that after the Prime Minister was notified about this in 2020, officials from the Cabinet Office then went round telling everybody in the meeting that it was illegal for them to discuss this with the media.”
China spy case ‘is tip of the iceberg’
He also referenced an ongoing row surrounding a collapse of a Chinese spy case.
The Labour government has claimed that the previous Conservative government failed to describe China in strong enough terms between 2021 and 2023, the period alleged offences by Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry took place, for the prosecution to proceed.
The Tory opposition has meanwhile suggested that Labour officials including national security adviser Jonathan Powell may have interfered with the evidence process. They follow reports in the Telegraph and The Sunday Times that deputy national security adviser Matthew Collins was prevented from providing evidence for the Crown Prosecution Service.
Cummings hit out at ongoing debates around China’s status, claiming it had interfered with the British state “a hundred times worse” than is publicly known.
“Anyone who has been read in at a high level with the intelligence services on China knows that the word threat doesn’t even begin to cover it,” he said.
“The degree of penetration in espionage, in all kinds of operations, penetration of critical national infrastructure, theft of intellectual property, the whole range of things is absolutely extraordinary – a hundred times worse than it is in the public domain.
‘Everyone at heart of Whitehall knows this’
“Everybody who has been briefed on the critical analyses of these things from the intelligence services knows this is true.
“The idea that it is somehow a difficult semantic question of whether to define them as a threat, or how much of a threat, is absolutely puerile nonsense, and everybody in the heart of Whitehall knows this.
“The Cabinet Office’s priority, obviously, was to make sure that no one knew about it.”
He also said Keir Starmer may not be aware of the breach and that officials had “buried” information.
“The answer was there’s been a political choice made in this country to prioritise Chinese money over security against China,” he said. “Strong Whitehall forces are desperate for Chinese money.”