The British government downplayed 'gobsmacking' Covid lab leak information amid ... trends now

The British government downplayed 'gobsmacking' Covid lab leak information amid ... trends now
The British government downplayed 'gobsmacking' Covid lab leak information amid ... trends now

The British government downplayed 'gobsmacking' Covid lab leak information amid ... trends now

The UK Government downplayed the 'high likelihood' that Covid-19 emerged from a lab leak in China because of resistance from scientific advisers, it was claimed yesterday.

US officials shared their views on the origin of the virus in a call with other members of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance – the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

But the 'lab leak' theory was downplayed in Britain because of resistance from government scientists who favoured the idea that Covid 'jumped the species barrier' from animals to humans, according to US sources.

Taking part in the January 2021 phone call were Mike Pompeo, Donald Trump's secretary of state, and the UK's then foreign secretary Dominic Raab and their counterparts.

The call – previously reported by The Mail on Sunday – was 'open', meaning unencrypted, in the hope the Chinese government would intercept the call, it is claimed.

US officials shared their views on the origin of the virus in a call with other members of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance ¿ the UK, Canada , Australia and New Zealand

US officials shared their views on the origin of the virus in a call with other members of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance – the UK, Canada , Australia and New Zealand

Taking part in the January 2021 phone call were Mike Pompeo , Donald Trump 's secretary of state, and the UK's then foreign secretary Dominic Raab (pictured) and their counterparts

Taking part in the January 2021 phone call were Mike Pompeo , Donald Trump 's secretary of state, and the UK's then foreign secretary Dominic Raab (pictured) and their counterparts

The allegations, made by unnamed officials speaking in The Sunday Telegraph yesterday, are likely to increase calls to open the Covid Inquiry to the question of where the virus originated.

One US source who worked on the intelligence said: 'We saw several pieces of information and thought they were gobsmacking.

'They obviously pointed to the high likelihood that this was indeed a lab leak.'

An intelligence dossier revealed the Chinese military worked with the Wuhan Institute of Virology in the years leading up to the pandemic, and some lab researchers fell sick shortly before the virus was first recorded nearby.

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