By Harry Cole For The Mail On Sunday00:42 BST 03 May 2020 , updated 01:08 BST 03 May 2020

MPs and journalists who've been asking embarrassing questions about China claim to be victims of suspicious hacking. Ambitious Tory MP Alicia Kearns mused: 'Last week, I joined the China Research Group. This week, I suddenly find myself under daily phishing attacks... I wonder.' 

Another MP who says he's a victim of attempts to trick him into giving information over the internet is Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Tom Tugendhat, who has been very vocal about the Chinese Communist Party's coronavirus failings. He says: 'A pretty sophisticated hacker is seeking to impersonate me. 

Any ideas who it could be?' But just how sophisticated? I received an email that was purportedly a copy of one from Mr Tugendhat to Benedict Rogers of the Tory party's Human Rights Commission. 

It had the Tory MP's real signature and detailed a provocative plan to haul the Chinese ambassador before his committee for a grilling. The email boasted that Mr Tugendhat was working with the PM on the plan. 

But I smelt a rat. As any Westminster lurker knows, to put it delicately, Mr Tugendhat and Boris are not buddies. One phone call proved the whole thing was fake news. Surely fans of the Beijing regime are smarter than to try to peddle disinformation?