Pressure mounts on Labour Minister Lord Patrick Vallance to explain why he 'rubbished' spy chief's Covid lab leak file

A Labour minister is facing mounting questions over claims he played down intelligence warning the Covid pandemic began from a Chinese lab leak. Lord Patrick Vallance, the Government's chief scientific adviser during the crisis, is accused of rubbishing claims in a dossier which warned the virus was engineered in a Wuhan facility. Lord Patrick Vallance, the Government's chief scientific adviser during the crisis, is accused of rubbishing claims in a dossier which warned the virus was engineered in a Wuhan facility This file photo taken on February 23, 2017 shows Chinese virologist Shi Zhengli inside the P4 laboratory in Wuhan Members of staff of the Wuhan Hygiene Emergency Response Team drive their vehicle as they leave the closed Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in the city of Wuhan in January 2020 A source close to former prime minister Boris Johnson pointed the finger at Lord Vallance for rubbishing the lab leak theory, saying: 'Boris repeatedly asked the agencies to do more work on the origins of Covid… He was struck by the refusal of scientists, especially Patrick Vallance, even to contemplate this possibility.' A source close to former prime minister Boris Johnson pointed the finger at Lord Vallance for rubbishing the lab leak theory Chief Medical Officer for England Chris Whitty, Prime Minister Boris Johnson and then Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance during a press conference in March 2020 Lord Vallance, the science minister who was the Government's chief scientific adviser at the time, is accused of ignoring the report, possibly for fear of offending the Chinese or jeopardising research funding Lord Vallance claims he 'did not have sight' of the dossier but alerted the UK National Security Adviser about the lab leak theory when it was first brought to his attention in January 2020. In the month Sir Richard submitted his report, Lord Vallance was said to have collaborated on a paper which supported Beijing's narrative of a natural occurrence.