Russian hackers stole classified US trade documents from Liam Fox's account, report says

Ex-trade secretary’s account broken into multiple times in attack with ‘hallmarks of state-backed operation’, it is alleged

Confidential documents which sparked claims that the NHS is on the table in US trade talks were stolen from Liam Fox’s email account by suspected Russian hackers, it has been alleged.

Two sources said the former trade secretary’s account was broken into multiple times between July and October last year, Reuters reported.

They declined to name the Russian group or organisation they believed was responsible, but said the attack bore the hallmarks of a state-backed operation, Reuters said.

The 451-page dossier was unveiled dramatically by Jeremy Corbyn before last December’s general election, who said it left Boris Johnson’s claim that the health service was off-limits “in tatters”.

US negotiators were pushing for “full market access” to the NHS and had “pushed hard” to extend patents on drugs developed by American corporations, potentially hiking UK prices.

The Conservatives accused Labour of peddling “conspiracy theories” – and, last month, Dominic Raab claimed “Russian actors” had sought to interfere in the election, with a criminal investigation underway.

Neither Dr Fox, now No 10’s nominee to head the World Trade Organisation, nor the Kremlin had responded to requests to comment on the revelations, Reuters said.

Among the hacked information were six tranches of documents detailing British trade negotiations with the United States, Reuters reported.

They were disseminated online by a Russian disinformation campaign, something confirmed and condemned by the foreign secretary last month.

The news organisation said it could not determine which of Dr Fox’s email accounts was hacked and when it was first compromised.

It is not clear if the documents were stolen before he was sacked as the trade secretary on 24 July 2019, when Mr Johnson entered Downing Street.

The subsequent leak of the classified documents, within weeks of the election, will be seen as one of the most blatant examples of suspected Russian attempts to meddle in British politics.

Last month, the powerful Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament found that Moscow had tried to influence a referendum on Scottish independence in 2014.

Its long-suppressed report also attacked the failure of successive governments to investigate suspected Russian attempts to deliver the 2016 Brexit referendum for Leave.

Dr Fox’s email account was hacked using a “spear phishing” message, which tricks the target into handing over their password and login details, the sources said.

The sources added that it was not clear if the hackers who stole the trade documents were the same people who later leaked them online.

Brandishing them last November, Labour said the unredacted documents “show Boris Johnson’s government is preparing to sell our NHS”.

The US had also been “emphatic” that climate change should not even be mentioned in any trade deal, which the prime minister had hoped to strike with Donald Trump by the end of this year.

However, all the meetings detailed took place between July 2017 and July 2019, before Mr Johnson succeeded Theresa May.