Labour may be spying on Americans, top Trump ally warns in fresh attack on Keir Starmer’s Britain

In it, the Republican lawmaker raised fears that Britain may be accessing Americans’ private data.

Mr Jordan cited the Investigatory Powers Act 2016, which lets the Government issue covert directives called “technical capability notices” (TCNs).

A TCN forces companies to build, maintain, or develop specific systems that allow for state surveillance, interception of communications, and access to data.

They essentially function as master keys, allowing intelligence agencies to read encrypted data without users knowing.

Mr Jordan described them as “backdoors into encrypted services” in his letter to the Home Secretary – deliberate flaws or hidden bypasses built into systems.

This gets around end-to-end encryption, which typically means only senders and recipients can view messages.

American firms are barred from telling anyone about these backdoors under British law.

That is similar to a superinjunction – where even confirming the existence of the backdoor could be illegal.

Mr Jordan said he had met British ambassador Sir Christian Turner in March about an American firm who wanted to discuss a TCN with members of Congress.

This would require Ms Mahmood’s permission, which Sir Christian indicated would be possible.

But the Home Secretary denied the request.

“This denial is inconsistent with our understanding from Ambassador Turner and raises serious concerns about shared cooperation on these sensitive matters, particularly as Congress exercises its important oversight responsibilities,” Mr Jordan wrote.

Mr Jordan had written to the Home Secretary in February complaining about a TCN being served to Apple amid concerns Britain was “weakening the security, privacy and constitutional rights of American citizens”.

But now, he has warned her most recent refusal raised broader questions about “trust and effective partnership between our two countries”.

The letter came just as the Prime Minister and US Vice President publicly clashed over the murder of Henry Nowak – and follows a series of escalating diplomatic rows over free speech, abortion, two-tier policing, the Chagos Islands, and the war in Iran.

Last night, Sir Keir Starmer raged at “people trying to interfere in our democracy and stir up division in our streets” after JD Vance blamed an “invasion” of migrants for the circumstances which led to Mr Nowak’s murder.

Mr Vance had said Mr Nowak would still be alive if Europeans had “stood their ground against the politics of self-hatred and the mass invasion of migrants” and called for “righteous anger” in response.

And just days ago, the State Department’s Sarah Rogers revealed the US Government’s new “free speech portal” was being flooded by Britons complaining about censorship at home.

The newly-established freedom.gov website – designed to bypass to bans on “hate speech” in places abroad – has been inundated with complaints from British users.

Last November, the US State Department classified NHS-funded abortions as human rights violations.

Since then, Sir Keir and Donald Trump’s warm working relationship has publicly deteriorated, with the President repeatedly homing in on energy and migration as areas where the Prime Minister is failing.

Mr Trump has also attacked Britain’s Armed Forces and lack of support for “Operation Epic Fury” since the US and Israel began their attacks on Iran.

Relations looked to have improved during the King’s State Visit to Washington DC – but a string of attacks on two-tier policing and free speech since then appear to have derailed that progress.

A UK Government spokesman told The Telegraph it would respond to Mr Jordan’s letter “in the normal way in due course”, but said there would be no comment on “operational matters, including confirming or denying the existence of such notices”.

“National security is our first priority,” the spokesman said.

“We have a longstanding legislative framework, including security and intelligence arrangements with the US, that enables us to tackle serious threats while safeguarding the privacy of our citizens.”