Senior Tory MP Tom Tugendhat accuses China of hacking him for YEARS in ‘attack on democracy’ as he reveals GCHQ experts told him Gmail is more secure than Parliament’s email
- Tory MP Tom Tugendhat has warned of ‘attack on democracy’ from hostile states
- He said China and Iran had been targeting him with hacking attacks for years
- GCHQ experts told him Gmail is more secure than his Parliamentary account
- Houses of Parliament insisted its email offers ‘significantly higher security’
A senior Tory MP today accused China of hacking him for years in an ‘attack on democracy’.
Foreign Affairs Committee chair Tom Tugendhat said the threat to free speech from rival states was not being taken ‘seriously enough’ by the government.
Mr Tugendhat – one of a group of politicians targeted with sanctions by Beijing for speaking out about human rights abuses – revealed that emails were circulated recently falsely claiming he had resigned.
And he said experts from GCHQ had told him that Gmail was more secure than his Parliamentary account.
Tory MPs have been pushing Boris Johnson to take a tougher approach to China amid growing concerns about the communist state’s power and determination to crush dissent.
Mr Tugendhat was one of nine British critics, including five MPs and two peers, sanctioned by Beijing in response to the UK’s imposition of asset freezes and travel bans on individuals and organisations linked to the abuses of Uighurs in Xinjiang.
An urgent question has been tabled in the Commons on the situation this afternoon.
Foreign Affairs Committee chair Tom Tugendhat (left) said the threat to free speech from states such as China (pictured right, President Xi Jinping) was not being taken ‘seriously enough’ by the government
In another recent escalation, the BBC’s correspondent was forced to flee to Taiwan amid complaints of surveillance, obstruction and intimidation.
Mr Tugendhat told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the stance taken by China amounted to ‘an attack on UK democracy… and frankly we are not taking it seriously enough’.
‘The sanctions that China has applied are for speaking. They are for calling out the violation of Chinese citizens of the brutality towards the Chinese Uighur population,’ he said.
‘What the British government has to respond and what Parliament has to respond to is defending freedom of speech in the UK.’
Describing his experience of cuber attacks, Mr Tugendhat said: ‘Last week, emails were sent around claiming to be from me, claiming that I’d resigned from the Foreign Affairs Committee, which of course I haven’t.
‘Many other cyberattacks have been perpetrated either on me or on others – attacks of impersonation, attempts to enter accounts and various other things.’
The MP went on: ‘It has been happening for about two or three years – in fact, it is not just China that has done it.
‘Iran is one country I know of that has done it and there are likely to be two others that I won’t name because I can’t be certain.’
Mr Tugendhat warned that while it would be ‘extreme’ to cut off trade with China in response, the government should be taking more action to counter the threat.
‘When, for example, I was told by friends at GCHQ – not formally, I admit – that I was better off sticking to Gmail rather than using the Parliamentary system because it was more secure, frankly that tells you the level of security and the priority we’re giving to democracy in the United Kingdom,’ he said.
A Parliament spokeswoman said: ‘We have robust cybersecurity measures in place and work closely with partners in the National Cyber Security Centre.
‘In line with guidance from the National Cyber Security Centre we would always encourage MPs to use parliamentary emails which offers significantly higher levels of security than external providers.’
It is believed the emails purporting to be from Mr Tugendhat were sent from a personal account.
Mr Tugendhat said experts from GCHQ had told him that Gmail was more secure than his Parliamentary account