State-sponsored Chinese hackers have been quietly breaking into the phones of senior British government officials for years—including close aides to recent prime ministers Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, and Rishi Sunak.
The Daily Telegraph reports that spies have “compromised senior members of the government, exposing their private communications to Beijing.”
It could not come at a worse time for the Labour government, which just last week approved Beijing’s new mega-embassy in London, little more than a stone’s throw from the Tower of London—and, most importantly, right by some of Britain’s most sensitive communication cables.
This decision had already prompted fury, with critics saying the embassy will amount to a “spy hub in the heart of our financial capital.” It has now become much more difficult for Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s team to launch any kind of defence.
Starmer will also meet President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Wednesday, January 28th, to discuss ending what he called an “ice age” of relations, even as evidence suggests the lines have never truly gone cold.
Reports say a “massive China reset” could soon be underway—a move hardly likely to reassure the public, especially now.
The general desire is for there to be less bowing down to Beijing, not more.
A Royal Mint Court residents’ association, where the new embassy is to be based, has launched a judicial review of the government’s approval after rapidly raising the necessary funds. Former Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith—who has been sanctioned by China over his criticism of Beijing—is backing the challenge, saying the approval process “ignored residents, raises serious safety, privacy and national security concerns, and lacked transparency.”
Michael Curzon is a news writer for europeanconservative.com based in England’s Midlands. He is also Editor of Bournbrook Magazine, which he founded in 2019, and previously wrote for London’s Express Online. His Twitter handle is @MichaelCurzon_.
