Growing questions over collapsed China spy trial as ex-MI6 chief shares ‘confusion’ over dropped prosecution

Questions are growing about the collapse of the case against two men accused of spying for Beijing, and the former Secret Intelligence Service chief says he is not sure why the investigation was dropped.

It comes amid allegations that the prime minister’s team had access to scores of documents proving China posed a national security risk, but allegedly chose not to hand them over to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) before the case was over.

On the eve of Sir Keir Starmer’s trip to Egypt, where he will attend the Middle East peace summit chaired by Donald Trump, the White House has reportedly warned that failure to prosecute two alleged Chinese spies risks damaging the special relationship and could threaten intelligence sharing between the UK and the US.

Speaking about the collapse of the trial, Sir John Sawers said: Times Radio: “I don’t think this has anything to do with intelligence. I think these two people accused of spying in the Parliament are low-level opinion reporters in the Parliament. If the allegations are true, what they did was absolutely illegal.

“Frankly, I’m a bit confused and unsure as to why the prosecution was dropped. “Of course, China poses an intelligence threat, a subversion threat and also an economic partner in the UK.

“If these activities were paid agents of a foreign power within Parliament, that would be unlawful activity, even if that foreign power was a friend of the UK. So I’m not sure why the prosecution was dropped.”

“I think the government has been slow to make a clear statement on this. We heard a statement from Yvette Cooper at the end of last week. But I think Americans will be equally baffled as to why the prosecution was dropped when the case appeared quite clear,” the former MI6 chief added.

It comes after two former senior civil servants questioned the prime minister’s announcement of the suspension of the investigation into former parliamentary inquiry Christopher Cash, 30, and teacher Christopher Berry, 33.

open image in gallery

The Prime Minister argued that the last Conservative administration did not identify China as a threat to national security, so his government could not provide evidence to that effect; director of public prosecutions (DPP) Stephen Parkinson said this was necessary to meet the prosecution threshold.

Lord Mark Sedwill, the predecessor of the Prime Minister’s current national security adviser Jonathan Powell, expressed confusion over why the case failed because Beijing was “unquestionably” a threat to the UK, while former cabinet secretary Lord Simon Case said intelligence chiefs had been warning publicly about the threat from China for years.

Former attorney general Dominic Grieve dismissed the government’s allegations on Friday, calling them “bizarre”: Independent: “I cannot understand why the Prime Minister is not in a position to ask the Cabinet Office to provide evidence.”

Mr Cash and Mr Berry were charged with espionage by the CPS in April last year under the Official Secrets Act 1911, and they were accused of collecting and passing on information “might be of use to the enemy”. Both denied the charges.

White House sources told Times Mr Trump has become increasingly concerned about the UK’s credibility after the charges were dropped, with a senior official saying: “The US has been warning allies about the threat China poses to our shared national security since President Trump first took office in 2017.

“The U.S. government exercises extreme caution in sharing information with foreign governments that are subject to hostile pressure and influence.

“We are particularly careful in jurisdictions where our adversaries may act with impunity.”

The collapse of the case has raised questions about whether Britain is willing to confront China as Sir Keir’s government seeks closer ties with the country.

The Conservatives accused the government of “political interference” in the case, while shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel called on attorney-general Lord Hermer to “come to Parliament and give an account of what happened”.

Sunday Times Last week, it was reported that Jonathan Powell, Sir Keir Starmer’s national security adviser, announced at a meeting last month that the government’s evidence would be based on the national security strategy published in June, which does not refer to Beijing as an “enemy”.

But Cabinet Minister Bridget Phillipson said Mr Powell played no role in the collapse of the case of two alleged Chinese spies and that the Prime Minister had full confidence.