National security council has not met since January

It has been revealed that the UK’s national security council has not met since late January and there are no plans for it to come together this week.

Made up of senior ministers, military personnel and spy chiefs, the body used to meet weekly under the premierships of David Cameron and Theresa May but has only done so sporadically since the last general election, prompting fears that it is being made deliberately redundant during the coronavirus crisis.

Sources claims that a meeting was cancelled last week, with no immediate plans to rearrange. This is despite tensions with China over the origins of coronavirus and a recent return by the RAF to bombing ISIS positions in Iraq.

In place of the meetings, Prime Minister Boris Johnson is instead leaning heavily on the meetings of the so called ‘Covid quad’, consisting of Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, Chancellor Rishi Sunak, Health Secretary Matt Hancock and Michael Gove, the chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. There are increasing fears that classified material is being discussed at the meetings where advisers without a high level of clearance are present. This includes the absence of Home Secretary Priti Patel and Defence Secretary Ben Wallace.

Conor McGinn, Shadow Security Minister, said: “At a time when the UK is facing threats to its national security every day, it is deeply worrying that the NSC hasn’t met for months. The Prime Minister should urgently convene the NSC and ensure it meets weekly, as it has done for the past decade.”

McGinn’s voice has been backed by that of Tobias Ellwood, the chair of the Defence Select Committee, who called on Ben Wallace to summon an urgent meeting of the national security council  to review how China and Russia may be exploiting the coronavirus crisis.