Tory minister criticised for claiming a ‘little man in China’ hacked his phone

Tory MP Mark Spencer has been slammed for using ‘outrageous and reckless language’ after he suggested there could be ‘some little man in China’ listening in on his private calls.

The remark came as the minister attempted to defend his colleagues after it was revealed former prime minister Liz Truss had her personal phone hacked by Russia.

When asked about the recent security breaches, former chief whip Mr Spencer told Sky News today: ‘The former prime minister clearly was hacked.

‘So, that is the first thing you do, say “Oh my goodness, I’ve been hacked, help”, and the security services will help you with that challenge.

‘Now, of course, you don’t always know, which is why you’ve got to be super-careful.’

When questioned on the potential security breach, the MP said: ‘We all talk on personal phones, don’t we? I ring my wife, maybe there’s some little man in China listening to the conversations between me and my wife.

Tory minister Mark Spencer joked there was a ‘little man in China’ listening in on him and wife’s phone private phone calls (Picture: Sky News)

The Tory MPs remarks came following news Liz Truss’s phone had been hacked by Russian spies (Picture: PA)

‘But, you know, you’ve just got to be careful about what information you use on which phone and you get a lot of help and support from the security services on that.’

His comments came after a recent report from The Mail on Sunday claimed the Kremlin had hacked the phones of several prominent UK politicians this year in order to intercept calls made to Ukrainian officials.

Former chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng is also believed to have been targeted alongside Truss, whose phone was said to be so badly compromised by Russian spyware it had to be locked in a safe in a secure government location.

The news also comes as new PM Rishi Sunak faces fresh criticism over his decision to reappoint Suella Bravermen as home secretary, just days after she had been sacked from the post by Ms Truss for a major security breach.

Ms Braverman was forced to step down from her role after it was revealed she used a personal email address to send confidential documents to a backbench MP.

Mr Spencer’s remarks were quickly seized upon by Labour MPs, with shadow ministers Azfal Khan and Sarah Owen, condemning Mr Spencer’s ‘reckless’ language and use of archaic stereotypes.

MP Sarah Owen, who is chair of East and South East Asians for Labour, hit back at Spencer and told the Huffington Post Spencer was ‘once again showing his ignorance, on many levels.’ 

‘Clearly government ministers like Mark Spencer do not understand the severity of the now repeated Conservative security breaches and that no amount of deflecting, even by throwing out the crass and archaic “little Chinese man” trope, will distract us from the fact the PM chose to re-hire Braverman just six days after a ministerial code violation to one of the most sensitive positions of state,’ she said.

Meanwhile, Labour MP Afzal Khan said: ‘Outrageous and reckless language used here.

‘Given Mark Spencer’s history of Islamophobia, really makes you wonder why he was ever promoted.’

Elsewhere in the interview,  Mr Spencer -the current minister for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, – said ministers get ‘quite a lot of briefing’ on ‘what to do and what not to do’.

Asked if he uses his government phone for personal business, he said: ‘I do not, no.’

He added: ‘You do get quite a lot of briefing from the security services on what to do and what not to do. So, you know, it’s quite important to get that right.

‘I don’t want to comment too much on it because, of course, what I don’t want to do is tell the world exactly what that briefing says. But you do get a lot of support when you become a Government minister on what is appropriate and inappropriate as a Government minister.’

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The former chief whip’s remarks came following news Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng had their phones hacked by Russian spies.