Keir Starmer set to appoint bungling diplomat who left top secret files at BUS STOP as Britain’s Nato ambassador

The dossier included one document marked “secret, UK eyes only” and others labelled “official, sensitive”.

Another one of the papers is reported to have included notes about Russia’s potential reaction to HMS Defender passing through Ukrainian waters.

Angus Lapsley lost a 50-page classified file which held the locations of British special forces in Kabul

GETTY

Despite the error, Lapsley kept his job in the civil service and was later promoted from the Foreign Office to Nato in 2022.

There, he was made the assistant secretary-general for defence policy and planning.

More recently, he has worked on Britain’s crucial strategic defence review.

Lapsley, according to The Times, is set to take over from Sir David Quarrey, who has been the UK’s permanent representative to Nato since April 2022, next week.

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Defence sources have said Lapsley is set to take up the Nato ambassadorship in just days

PA

One senior defence source who worked with Lapsley in the past said: “It is deeply worrying that the Foreign Office and Ministry of Defence don’t take security seriously.”

While a different source who also worked with the diplomat when he was on secondment to the Ministry of Defence said: “There should be real concern about the decision-making behind this process.

“It cannot be overstated how significant this security breach was and the impact it had at the time.”

But another source added: “He went off and served his penance, and has been leading on the strategic defence review.”

One senior defence source who worked with Lapsley in the past said: ‘It is deeply worrying that the Foreign Office and Ministry of Defence don’t take security seriously’

PA

He had been tipped for the ambassadorship before the security breach – but defence sources have said that he is now expected to take it up in just days.

But officials have remained coy – a Ministry of Defence spokesman told The Telegraph that Lapsley was still working on the strategic defence review and that there were no plans for that to change.

While a Foreign Office spokesman said: “Ambassador appointments will be confirmed in the usual way.”