Overview
- Security staff discovered a covert camera inside a ceiling panel in the Marsham Street complex that houses the Home Office and MHCLG, and ministers have been told.
- Officials say the device was in a communal area used by civil servants rather than in ministerial offices, and inquiries are under way to establish who placed it and how long it had been there.
- The Security Services have been informed and investigations are ongoing, though no public attribution to any foreign state has been made.
- The finding has reopened questions about the January approval for China’s proposed Royal Mint Court embassy because the site sits close to key fibre‑optic cables that carry sensitive City of London data.
- Staff reported shock and fear that they may have been monitored, and the episode adds to a string of recent government worries about state spying methods after warnings from MI5, GCHQ and the Five Eyes partnership.