Jeremy Hunt has confirmed the Government is probing whether Sir Kim Darroch's scathing memos about Donald Trump were deliberately leaked by a 'hostile state'.

The UK ambassador to the US has been embroiled in a huge political row after leaked memos revealed him calling Trump 'inept and incompetent', with the Government probing how they came to be released to the media.

But now the Foreign Office is considering whether Russia hacked Sir Kim to unveil messages that would 'cause maximum embarrassment and harm' to officials on both sides of the pond.

They believe hackers could have launched a cyber attack to obtain files and damage UK-US relations.

Jeremy Hunt (pictured at a hustings event yesteray) has confirmed the Government is probing whether Sir Kim Darroch's scathing memos about Donald Trump were deliberately leaked by a 'hostile state' like Russia

The Foreign Office is considering whether Russia hacked Sir Kim to unveil messages that would be 'cause maximum embarrassment and harm' to officials on both sides of the pond. Pictured: President Putin in Moscow yesterday

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt told The Sun: 'Of course it would be massively concerning if it was the act of a foreign, hostile state.

'I've seen no evidence that that's the case, but we'll look at the leak inquiry very carefully.

'They are going to follow all avenues of inquiry to try to understand how this happened. That's something that will be considered.'

The Cabinet Office is leading the inquiry amid fears the culprit could be someone intent on damaging Britain's relations with the US.

One Whitehall source told the Mail: 'Someone meticulously went through the cables and picked out the ones designed to cause maximum embarrassment and harm.'

A second Government source thought it looked like something 'out of Russia's playbook'.

It comes after outgoing Prime Minister Theresa May said Sir Kim had her 'full faith', despite his claims Trump's White House is 'dysfunctional'.

The UK ambassador to the US, Sir Kim Darroch, (pictured in 2017) has been embroiled in a huge political row after leaked memos revealed him calling Trump 'inept and incompetent'

Trump took to Twitter last night to slam the PM for her 'Brexit mess', saying: 'I have been very critical about the way the U.K. and Prime Minister Theresa May handled Brexit.

'What a mess she and her representatives have created. I told her how it should be done, but she decided to go another way.'

He added: 'I do not know the Ambassador, but he is not liked or well thought of within the US. We will no longer deal with him.

'The good news for the wonderful United Kingdom is that they will soon have a new Prime Minister.

'While I thoroughly enjoyed the magnificent State Visit last month, it was the Queen who I was most impressed with!'

Foreign minister Sir Alan Duncan said the Government was braced for a possible wave of leaks if more damaging cables had ended up in the 'wrong hands'.

His warning came as Tory MPs demanded a criminal investigation into what International Trade Secretary Liam Fox described as 'unpatriotic' and 'malevolent' behaviour.

Dr Fox flew into Washington DC yesterday and will today meet President Trump's daughter Ivanka to try to soothe tensions caused by the leak.

Donald Trump (pictured in Washington yesterday) took to Twitter last night to slam the PM for her 'Brexit mess',

Trump gave Sir Kim Darroch the back of his hand in a pair of tweets that also lashed out at outgoing Prime Minister Theresa May

He said: 'Malicious leaks of this nature are... unethical and unpatriotic because they can damage that relationship, which can affect our wider security interest.

'This is such a potentially damaging event that I hope the full force of internal discipline or the law will come down on whoever actually carried out this act.'

He said it would not be necessary to recall Sir Kim. But Lord Renwick, who served as Britain's ambassador to Washington in the Nineties, said the leak had made Sir Kim's position 'untenable', adding: 'There will of course be a decent interval. He will then have to be moved on.'

Sir Simon McDonald, permanent under-secretary of state in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, told the Commons public accounts committee that the leak had caused 'significant damage'.

Asked if it could be the result of a hack by a hostile state, he said: 'That will be in the scope of the leak inquiry.'

Diplomats and politicians were furious that such sensitive material had been leaked. Lord Renwick of Clifton, a former ambassador in Washington, said it was essential that ambassadors were able to 'report honestly to No10', adding: 'Whoever leaked it really ought to go to jail.'

Tory MP Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the Commons foreign affairs committee, warned that the Government was 'developing a culture of leaks'.

The Prime Minister's official spokesman said: 'Our ambassadors provide honest, unvarnished assessments of politics in their country. Those views are not necessarily the views of ministers or indeed of the Government. This leak is not acceptable. A leak inquiry has been launched.'

He said there was no reason why Sir Kim could not continue in his post, adding: 'Our team in Washington have a strong relationship with the White House.'

Mr Hunt said he was happy for ambassadors to give 'frank opinions'.