As a lifelong securocrat who has spent his career interacting with the intelligence agencies, Sir Mark Sedwill is no stranger to the techniques of British spies.

But now ministers and their aides claim that the cabinet secretary has launched his own freelance espionage operation in an effort to stop leaks from ministerial meetings.

In an ironic commentary on the state of the government, the plan has now leaked.

Cabinet sources claim that Britain’s top civil servant has taken to planting spies in ministerial meetings, recruiting “spotters” to conduct surveillance on those he suspects of leaking to the media.

In what is seen by ministers as an abuse of power, it is alleged that Sedwill has leaned on officials to record when cabinet ministers take notes