Grant Shapps says ‘he put me and my family at serious risk’ as ex-City worker is jailed for seven years for trying to spy for Russia

Former Defense Secretary Sir Grant Shapps has told how the wannabe Russian spy, who was jailed for seven years today, put himself and his family at risk.

Former council worker Howard Phillips, 65, of Ware, Hertfordshire, told two MI5 officers posing as Russian agents that he wanted to work in intelligence to avoid a ‘nine to five office’ job after retiring at 58 and spending his savings.

He was filmed from multiple angles in an elaborate undercover operation in which two MI5 agents adopted Russian accents to pose as agents of the foreign intelligence agency SVR, despite Phillips having never heard of the organisation.

He gave the home address and landline number of Sir Grant, the local MP and later Secretary of State for Defence, during MI5’s undercover operation.

Phillips, who was divorced with four adult children, was sentenced to seven years in prison after offering to provide logistical support to Russian agents around the world.

A victim impact statement was read to the court on behalf of Sir Grant before the sentence was handed down at Winchester Crown Court.

The following statements were made in the statement: ‘At a time when awareness is increasing and the recent murders of members of parliament are being followed, this situation has caused me great concern not only for my personal safety, but also for the safety of my family.

‘As Minister of Defense I increased close protection for my safety, but I felt extremely vulnerable to possible harm to my family.

‘I am very aware of the potential threats to myself given my role, but you would expect these threats to come from a hostile state as opposed to a UK resident.

‘He chose to take whatever information he had and attempted to sell it to a foreign intelligence service, thereby immorally placing myself, my family and ultimately the state at serious risk.’

Giving evidence on his ex-husband’s behalf, his ex-wife Amanda told Winchester Crown Court that Phillips was ‘in love’ with spy books and films and had ‘big dreams’ about ‘serving this country somewhere and becoming James Bond’.

‘He loved James Bond, his image, his suit and his nice car, being someone you could respect, being someone people loved, someone special,’ he added.

His parole report said he ‘believed he was playing a game’ and ‘expressed remorse for destroying not only his own life but also the lives of those who loved him’.

Police found no material on his phone or computer that suggested he sympathized with Russia.

At a branch of the cafe, Leon met an MI5 officer posing as a Russian spy and gave him a mobile phone, hotel key card and a USB stick containing details of Grant Shapps MP.

Phillips was arrested by plainclothes police in a café in King’s Cross after arriving at an expected meeting with a Russian man.

Phillips grew up in Swiss Cottage in north London and attended St Marylebone Grammar School, before going to work for his father in a factory in the East End and then becoming an insolvency practitioner in 1986.

He worked at Bond Partners in the City and stated in his CV that he had ‘senior management experience, training and managing teams of seven to 20 professionals’.

However, he became self-employed in 2011 and worked as a manager in the charity sector, working on GDPR compliance for websites, before going into ‘semi-retirement’ in 2018.

Phillips told how he sent hundreds of CVs and applications online when he ran out of money, adding: ‘I was eagerly looking for a job but none came.’

Because he ‘wanted to be in the service of my country’, he filled out online applications for MI5 in 2014 and 2024, but received no response.

As well as writing to Boris Johnson and Liz Truss to outline their solutions to the immigration crisis, he has offered to become manager of Arsenal football club and the England team.

He even wrote letters to Hollywood actor Jennifer Aniston and Tom Cruise’s manager, asking for ‘an audience’ and ‘meeting with Mr. Cruise for about an hour’.

Finally, on March 15 last year, Phillips volunteered his services to the Russians, Iranians and Chinese by sending letters to their embassies, and the Russians’ letter was intercepted by MI5.

Phillips was asked to produce a document on a USB stick explaining how he could assist Russian intelligence and deliver it to London on 4 April by dropping it on the seatpost of a silver bicycle locked to the railings behind St Pancras Station.

He said in the document that he was “fully adaptable locally as an upstanding citizen or as a tourist anywhere around the world” and MI5 officers then instructed him to go to the London Bridge Hotel, where they met in a private flat on 24 April.

Sitting on the sofa, Phillips told two MI5 officers playing the role of Russian intelligence officers ‘Dima’ and his boss ‘Sasha’ that he spoke only English and ‘a little French, un peu.’

He added: ‘I’ve worked in offices from nine to five for most of my life. “I want to do something different.”

The moment Phillips placed the package on the seat of the bike was captured by a hidden security camera

Phillips told two MI5 officers posing as a Russian agent that he wanted to work in intelligence to avoid a ‘nine to five office’ job after retiring at 58 and spending his savings.

Phillips filmed leaving USB stick in plot to leak sensitive information about Grant Shapps

He then left with a brown paper bag in his hand, which he then handed over to one of the ‘agents’.

Phillips suggested traveling to Spain or South America, adding: ‘Get a villa or a hotel or something like British tourists and take them around.

At a meeting with ‘Dima’ at the Costa Coffee store at Lakeside Retail Park in West Thurrock, Essex, on May 9, Phillips was told to book a hotel in London with his name and contact details, buy a mobile phone and prepare for a ‘senior civil servant from my organisation’ who was coming to London for a ‘delicate meeting’.

Shortly before 3pm on May 16, Phillips checked into the Hilton Hotel in Upper Woburn Place, Euston, carrying a baseball cap and an umbrella.

He later met Dima at the Leon cafe in the nearby Brunswick shopping center and handed him a brown paper bag containing a mobile phone, hotel key card and a USB stick containing Grant Shapps’ details.

He was given an envelope containing £1,000 in cash and instructed to meet a Russian man at the Black Sheep coffee shop in King’s Cross Square, but when he arrived plainclothes officers surrounded him and arrested him.

Phillips has denied providing material assistance to a foreign intelligence service to carry out UK-related activities under the National Security Act 2023.

The court heard his finances were ‘rapidly declining’, he had spent all the money from the sale of a property and had just £374.48 left in his bank accounts as of May 2024.

His relationship broke down and he had to spend at least one night sleeping in his car. He moved out of his girlfriend’s house in Ware, Hertfordshire, and into a bedroom in Harlow, Essex.

Prosecutor Jocelyn Ledward KC said Phillips was ‘financially struggling’ and was looking for ‘an interesting and exciting job for easy money’.

Jeremy Dein KC, granting mitigation before sentencing, said his client was an ‘eccentric and crazy character’ who had made a ‘colossal error of judgement’.

Wannabe spy spotted checking reception at London’s Hilton Hotel

Phillips grew up in Swiss Cottage, north London, and attended St Marylebone Grammar School.

“He is proudly British and there is nothing to suggest that he has the slightest anti-British sentiments or wishes to harm the country, quite the contrary,” he added.

‘He was an aging man whose life had collapsed and was clearly unable to think clearly.

‘He had dreams of what he could do for the Russian authorities, believing he could make a meaningful contribution.’

Mr Dein said Phillips ‘worked in bankruptcy every day for decades, raising children who speak glowingly of him’ and was secretary of the Borehamwood synagogue for three years, as well as ‘exploring political issues clearly relevant to his concerns for the welfare of the United Kingdom’.

His parole report said he ‘believed he was playing a game’ and ‘expressed remorse for destroying not only his own life but also the lives of those who loved him’.

But Jocelyn Ledward KC, prosecuting, said she found a ‘concierge’ role, which was described in the offer Phillips made on the USB stick he left in St Pancras, offering to provide logistical support to the Russian intelligence service.