In January 2021, then-UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab was reportedly presented with "gobsmacking" evidence that Covid-19 had most likely leaked from a Chinese laboratory.
However, Raab and the UK government reportedly ignored the laboratory leak theory, partly due to opposition from the government's own scientists, who instead supported the explanatory model that the virus spread from animals to humans.
The Telegraph reports that representatives from the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand met in January 2021 to discuss the origin of the virus and the likelihood of a leak from a Chinese lab. The United States also alleged that China was hiding coronavirus research and military activities at a laboratory in Wuhan.
That same month, then-US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called his British counterpart, Dominic Raab, and reportedly presented him with evidence supporting the lab leak theory.
Two Trump administration officials say Raab and the British government chose to ignore that theory, as well as classified US intelligence reports collected at the beginning of the coronavirus crisis.
– We saw several pieces of information and thought that they were, frankly, gobsmacking. They obviously pointed to the high likelihood that this was indeed a lab leak, says a former official who worked on the intelligence that formed the basis of one of the reports.
Genetic modification
The US warned of "consistent concealment" by China after the virus was first detected and also accused Chinese officials of "gross corruption and incompetence".
The reports included allegations that Chinese military personnel worked at the Wuhan Virological Institute in the years leading up to the pandemic, and that scientists at the lab fell ill shortly before the virus was first detected nearby.
It was also reported that Chinese scientists were working on genetic modification of organisms (gain of function) at the institute, which was then highlighted as important evidence for the laboratory leak theory.
"Radioactive political issue"
The origin of Covid-19 is still a matter of debate, with some authorities and scientists arguing that the most likely explanation is that the virus was created by humans and deliberately or accidentally released into the population - while others continue to insist that the most likely explanation is that the virus was spread by animal-human interaction.
According to the two officials interviewed, the British government at the time regarded the lab theory as a "radioactive US political issue" and was critical of the way the US debate was conducted. They were also unwilling to participate in a US-led investigation into the origins of the virus and possible laboratory leaks, and were reportedly skeptical about sharing their own research with the Americans.
