A hidden camera was found inside the Marsham Street government complex in Westminster, and the discovery has triggered an urgent call for answers over how it got there and what it may have seen. Security services have been informed after the device was discovered behind a ceiling panel in a communal area within the last two months.
Alex Burghart said the case demanded an urgent investigation, warning that a hidden camera inside a building occupied by the Home Office and other departments raises questions about the security of government departments and those seeking to undermine them. He said the public deserved answers, and asked who was responsible, how long the device had been in place and whether any sensitive or classified information had been compromised.
The Marsham Street complex houses the Home Office and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, placing departments that handle policing, national security, housing and planning policy under the same roof. The hidden camera Marsham Street building discovery was first reported by the i newspaper, which said the device was found behind a ceiling panel in a shared part of the complex.
Home Office sources said the camera was found in MHCLG's part of the building, away from ministerial offices, a detail that narrows the immediate risk but does not remove it. The breach still raises broader concerns because the complex is used by departments with highly sensitive responsibilities, and the location of the device leaves open the question of whether the threat was aimed at staff, visitors or access routes rather than ministers themselves.
The Home Office declined to comment, and the prime minister's spokesman also declined to comment. MHCLG said only that it does not comment on security matters. For now, the key unanswered question is not whether the device existed — it did — but whether anyone was able to use it to collect information from inside one of Westminster's most sensitive shared government buildings.
