The leak of secret discussions in the national security council is a “complete outrage”, a former cabinet secretary has said.
Sir Gus O’Donnell, who served as the country’s most senior civil servant under Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and David Cameron, said the leak was “incredibly serious”.
“This is just beyond the pale,” he told BBC Radio 4′s Today programme.
Theresa May is facing calls for a full police inquiry after The Daily Telegraph reported the prime minister had overridden the objections of key ministers to give the green light for Chinese tech giant Huawei to participate in the UK’s 5G communications network.
Reports have emerged that the current cabinet secretary, Sir Mark Sedwill, has demanded ministers in attendance at meeting confess or deny if they were behind the leak.
Five ministers – Jeremy Hunt, Gavin Williamson, Sajid Javid, Penny Mordaunt and Liam Fox – were reported as having expressed concern.
David Lidington, Philip Hammond, Greg Clark and General Geoffrey Cox also sit on the NSC.
Williamson and and Hunt have publicly denied that they were responsible for the leak.
As HuffPost UK reported last night, Williamson infuriated security officials by initially blaming Cabinet Office staff.
At a lunch for Westminster journalists, Hunt flatly denied that it was him. “I think it is utterly appalling that that should happen,” he said. “I have never leaked confidential Cabinet discussions and I never will.”
In a statement, Williamson said neither he nor any of his team had “divulged information from the National Security Council”.
Javid said it was “completely unacceptable” for any minister to release sensitive information and that it should “absolutely be looked at”.
Labour has also demanded an inquiry with shadow Cabinet Office minister Jo Platt saying it would be “truly shocking” if the leak was to gain advantage in a Tory leadership contest.
Culture Secretary Jeremy Wright told MPs a criminal investigation had not been ruled out, saying it was essential the intelligence agencies had confidence that advice given to ministers would remain private.