A senior Conservative MP has called for an international investigation into the deadly coronavirus pandemic and the actions of the Chinese leadership.

Tom Tugendhat, who represents Tonbridge and Malling and is chairman of the Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Select Committee, took to Twitter to demand a global inquiry into the spread of the killer virus.

He also took aim at the Communist regime in Beijing, accusing the leadership of Xi Jinping of undermining the global response to the crisis with its culture of secrecy.

The Tory legislator is an outspoken critic of the Chinese government, and has recently been among those sounding the alarm over the prospect of Shenzhen-headquartered Huawei playing a leading role in the construction of the UK's 5G network.

Tweeting to his some 42,000 followers, Mr Tugendhat said: "We need an international investigation into the Covid-19 epidemic. It has already cost too many lives and will take many more.

"We cannot allow cover-ups or lies to put us all at risk. Even now, false data from Beijing is undermining our ability to respond."

Earlier this month, writing in the Mail on Sunday, Mr Tugendhat accused the Chinese authorities of relying on "a toxic brew of lies and fear to maintain power and control over its people", and claimed the government had engaged in a cover-up since the Covid-19 outbreak began in Wuhan province.

Fellow Tory MP Tobias Ellwood, who is the chairman of the Defence Select Committee, echoed the need for an inquiry into the source of the pandemic, which has killed more than 200 people in Kent.

He said: "There’s been no effort to establish who was patient zero, where ground zero was and true cause. With no lessons learnt from SARS - other than attempting to hide outbreak from the world, China must change. A virus will strike again."

Watch Tom Tugendhat talk about the issue on KMTV's Kent Tonight programme

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