National security adviser accused of torpedoing China spy case DID sign off on charges, so why did he change his mind?

The national security adviser accused of undermining the Chinese espionage case supported the charges when they were first brought.

Matthew Collins initially submitted an assessment to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in support of the spying case against parliamentary deputy Chris Cash and fellow teacher Chris Berry.

When the defendant appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on April 26 last year, prosecutors presented a summary of the case, revealing that Mr Collins considered ‘the alleged activities of Chris Berry and Chris Cash were prejudicial to the security or interests of the United Kingdom’.

But when the CPS demanded more evidence weeks later, Mr Collins refused to say China posed an ‘active threat’ to Britain.

This enraged the Director of Public Prosecutions, who was forced to drop the case after a year of efforts to clarify the matter. Both Mr Berry and Mr Cash have denied any wrongdoing.

Pressure was mounting on Mr Collins, the UK’s Deputy National Security Adviser for Intelligence, Defense and Security, to announce his change of heart.

The UK’s former national security adviser, Mark Sedwill, questioned his decision and said: ‘The truth is, of course, that China is a national security threat.’

Now, Jonathan Hall KC, the UK’s Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation and State Threats Legislation, has launched an investigation.

As the war of words over the collapse of the case continues, a growing chorus of voices, including Sir Keir Starmer’s former senior civil servant Lord Case, have spoken out against the official statement that China cannot be declared an ‘enemy’ to satisfy the introduction of charges under the Official Secrets Act.

Mr Cash and Mr Berry (pictured) were charged with breaching the Official Secrets Act on April 22 last year

Mr Hall told LBC last night that Beijing ‘posed a threat to national security’. I do not think that the statements made to the public so far are sufficient. Personally I find this confusing. It deserves a much fuller explanation.’

Mr Cash, 30, and his friend Mr Berry, 33, an English teacher living in China, were arrested in March 2023 after being accused of passing data to Beijing.

The pair were charged with violating the Official Secrets Act on April 22 last year.

Four days later, prosecutors told a judge that the secrets were passed to a Chinese intelligence agent, who gave them to a person described as a ‘senior member of the Chinese Communist Party and a Politburo member’ who appeared to be Cai Qi, President Xi Jinping’s de facto private secretary.

A CPS document said Mr Collins supported the case, finding evidence in ten of the 34 reports from Mr Berry of the alleged recruitment of a Chinese intelligence agent.

The statement said: ‘A Deputy National Security Advisor evaluated the important information provided by Chris Berry in his reports and made a statement commenting specifically on ten of them; It concluded that the information and material passed between Chris Berry and Chris Cash and subsequently to the Chinese intelligence agent would be directly or indirectly beneficial to the Chinese State and that transmitting this information would be detrimental to the security or interests of the State.

‘In their assessment, Berry and Cash’s alleged activities were harmful to the security or interests of the United Kingdom.’

Mr Collins did not comment but is understood to have claimed he has never changed his position and was ‘blindsided’ when the case collapsed last month. Sir Keir sought to blame the Tory government’s attitude towards China at the time of the alleged offences.

Yesterday the Prime Minister said: ‘The evidence was evidence as it was then, it was the only evidence that was relevant and that evidence was the situation under the last government.’

Critics point to its efforts to build relations with the world’s second-largest economy as a possible reason for reluctance to label China an enemy.