"The newspaper quoted three UK officials, who all reported fury within Johnson's government.

One said: "It is going to be back to the diplomatic drawing board after this. Rethink is an understatement."

The second unnamed official said "there has to be a reckoning when this is over," while the third said "the anger goes right to the top."

The newspaper adds that Johnson's government is so angry with China's handling of the crisis that the prime minister could abandon his previous decision to let Chinese telecomms company Huawei develop the UK's 5g network."