The government said it would not “step back” from the threat posed by China after MPs expressed anger that they were kept in the dark about a hack of their emails.

MPs expressed their frustration in the House of Commons on Monday I It has been revealed that the government learned of a major Chinese hack of MPs two years ago but did not warn them until last month.

A leaked FBI document was released by I It shows that the British government was informed of the 2022 hacking incident from its American counterparts.

Conservative MP Tim Lawton asked Security Minister Tom Tugendhat about the findings, questioning the reasons for the delay.

“Back in March we had the scandal of members of Congress’ email accounts being hacked,” he said. “We subsequently learned that the FBI notified our government of this incident two years ago, as well as other foreign governments whose lawmakers were also affected.

“Why did it take two years for us to learn about a serious security breach?”

Tugendhat did not answer the question specifically, but said the government would not “shirk” the threat posed by the Chinese government.

“The reality is we face threats from all over the world, and sadly many of them are coming from Beijing today,” he responded. “We know it, we’ve seen it and a lot of people in this house have felt it, so it’s not something we shy away from.”

It’s the closest cabinet members have come in recent months to viewing China as a threat rather than an “epochal challenge.”

The debate over the definition has divided the government and Mr Tugendhat is understood to have pushed for China to be included in the enhanced tier of the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme (FIRS) against the wishes of cabinet colleagues.

The enhanced level will involve stricter measures against Chinese foreign agents under the new national security law.

It comes after Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden announced last month that three MPs and one MP had been targeted by the Chinese government-affiliated hacking group “APT31” between 2021 and 2022.

Later it was exposed I In fact, at least 30 British MPs were affected. An unclassified document leaked by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and FBI on Sunday revealed that the UK had been privately informed of the scale of the hack almost two years ago.

In briefings to “host governments” in affected countries, including the United Kingdom, FBI officials “outlined the affected email accounts, described the nature of the activity (tracking emails), attributed the activity to APT31, and Malicious APT31 sender account provided.”

The document said the information would be sent to British law enforcement and intelligence agencies in 2022 “as soon as it is discovered by the FBI.”

It is unclear why Mr Dowden did not disclose the full scale of the hack, or why parliamentary security assured MPs the emails did not reach their inboxes.

I I have since seen emails from this domain in politicians’ inboxes.

Labor MP Chris Bryant said he was “not convinced” by the government’s response as he expressed his displeasure in the House of Commons.

“When the deputy prime minister came to see us a few weeks ago he didn’t say anything new, he announced events that had happened two years ago,” Mr Bryant said. “If we are really going to take these issues seriously, we must have an up-to-date understanding of the Chinese government’s activities.”

He asked: “Why do we only know what happened a few years ago?”

The security minister again did not answer the question, saying instead: “When there is reason to act quickly and it is brought to the attention of the House, we will do so.”

Conservative, Lib Dem and SNP politicians, including former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith, expressed their dismay after learning they had long been kept in the dark about the attacks.

A parliamentary spokesperson said: “Parliament takes cyber security extremely seriously and, as the government has confirmed, this reconnaissance by APT31 in 2021 did not successfully compromise any parliamentary accounts.

“Everyone we know who has received the email has been reassured that if they find the email in their inbox, it does not pose a risk and they should delete it.”