An investigation has been launched after the rail minister’s laptop containing confidential information about negotiations on the train strikes was stolen from a central London pub, the Evening Standard has learned.
Huw Merriman’s work computer was taken from under his chair at a bar in Covent Garden, the day after the biggest strikes in more than a decade.
It was stolen on the evening of Thursday, February 2, the same week that train drivers launched their last round of mass walkouts, causing major disruption in London and across the country .
RMT and Aslef workers at 14 train companies took industrial action on February 1 and 3 in the ongoing dispute over pay and conditions. They were joined by teachers, bus drivers, lecturers and civil servants on “walkout Wednesday”.
Sources close to the Conservative MP for Bexhill and Battle, Mr Merriman, said the theft from the pub in James Street was reported to police and to government officials as soon as it was noticed around 7.30pm.
The laptop was remotely wiped of sensitive information, they added. A government spokesman said they could not comment on specific security concerns. “We take the security of government devices extremely seriously,” the spokesman said. “Which is why devices, such as laptops and mobile phones, are always encrypted so any loss does not compromise security.” The Metropolitan Police confirmed to the Standard that the theft was reported to them, but no arrests have been made.
MPs and Lords have reported the loss of dozens of devices including iPads, phones and laptops last year, with technology left on planes, in taxis or taken from pubs. Up to November last year, 32 gadgets were reported lost while in the possession of MPs, data showed.
Tory minister Stuart Andrew’s laptop was taken as he enjoyed a drink in a pub close to Downing Street.
Mr Andrew had his work computer, personal device and house keys stolen on February 22 last year from the Red Lion in Whitehall, which is popular with MPs, government aides and journalists. The Conservative MP for Pudsey was a housing minister in Boris Johnson’s government at the time of the theft, and now holds jobs in the Department of Culture and the Department for Business and Trade.
His computer, which had been at his feet when taken, was also accessed and wiped remotely after he reported it missing. Police also launched an investigation after a laptop containing sensitive information was reported stolen from the parliamentary estate last April.
It comes at time of heightened concern over cyber security in Westminster. IT security has been tightened across the estate in recent months because of the high level of threat from cyber attacks, particularly from Russian and Chinese sources. Last month it was revealed that at least one Chinese tracking device capable of transmitting location data was discovered inside a UK government car that carried senior officials. It was also reported that the Metropolitan police had launched an investigation after a laptop containing “sensitive” data was stolen from an MP’s office on the parliamentary estate.
According to the report, the MP was left in shock after he couldn’t find his device on the desk. The parliament-supplied laptop reportedly contained constituency information. Mr Merriman warned last month that the rail strikes had cost the UK economy more than £1 billion.
He said they cost the UK rail industry £25 million on a weekday and £15 million a day at the weekend but also insisted that the Government had not “interfered in a negative manner” during negotiations aimed at resolving the row over jobs, pay and conditions.
