Labour underneath hearth for ‘deliberate cover-up’ of Chinese cyber assault | Politics | News | EUROtoday

Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Government has been accused of protecting up a serious Chinese cyber assault on the Foreign Office to keep away from a diplomatic firestorm forward of the Prime Minister’s high-stakes go to to Beijing. The audacious hack, which passed off in October, focused Government servers holding hundreds of confidential Home Office visa utility data managed by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).

Details of the safety breach solely emerged on Friday following studies that attributed the hack to Storm-1849. The group is a infamous China-linked espionage outfit beforehand blamed by Western intelligence businesses for state-aligned hacking towards democratic establishments.

Trade minister Sir Chris Bryant confirmed the incident in a collection of broadcast interviews, admitting: “There certainly has been a hack at the FCDO, and we’ve been aware of that since October.” However, he sought to downplay the severity, insisting the breach was contained quickly. He added: “We’re very assured that within the investigation that we’ve performed up to now, that no one, no particular person, may have been harmed or compromised by what has occurred.”

Sir Chris described some reporting as “hypothesis” and claimed it was “not clear” whether the breach was “instantly associated to Chinese operatives, or certainly the Chinese state.” This refusal to point the finger at Beijing has sparked fury among the Opposition, who claim ministers are prioritising diplomatic optics over national security.

Shadow Foreign Secretary Dame Priti Patel led the charge, accusing the Government of turning a “blind eye” to the threat to avoid embarrassing the Prime Minister. Posting on X, she said: “China undermines our safety, establishments and democracy, however Labour is failing to guard Britain from China’s international interference in our nation. Starmer kowtows to China at each alternative and can’t be trusted to guard our nationwide curiosity.”

The timing of the disclosure is particularly sensitive, as Sir Keir is set to become the first UK Prime Minister to visit China since 2018. The trip, scheduled for late January, is the centrepiece of Labour’s “reset” of UK-China relations, aimed at fostering economic growth despite warnings from security services.

Shadow Security Minister Alicia Kearns further accused Labour of a “deliberate cover-up.” She told MailOnline the Government hid the hack to “easy the best way for the Prime Minister’s upcoming jolly to Beijing” and to avoid further humiliation following the recent collapse of a high-profile court case against two alleged Chinese spies.

Sir Iain Duncan Smith, the former Conservative leader, was equally scathing, saying: “They know very effectively who has performed this. It’s China. The motive they will not say is as a result of they’ve this absurd nonsense of Keir Starmer going over to go to China. China is enjoying us for idiots. We look silly and pathetic that we can’t even name out a hack.”

The breach has heightened fears that sensitive details of Hong Kong passport holders and dissidents who fled to the UK could have been compromised. Luke de Pulford, co-founder of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, warned: “If visa utility knowledge was among the many materials accessed, the implications are particularly grave, given the potential dangers to dissidents who depend on the UK for defense.”

Storm-1849 was previously identified in early 2024, when ministers formally attributed cyberattacks on MPs and the Electoral Commission to China — a breach that exposed the data of 40 million voters.

This latest incident comes amid reports that the government is also set to approve a massive new Chinese “tremendous embassy” in London, a transfer that safety specialists have warned might present a everlasting base for Chinese intelligence operations within the coronary heart of the capital.