Key witness removed word ‘enemy’ from evidence over China spy case as spotlight turns on Rishi Sunak
The description of China as an “enemy” was removed from the final draft of the witness’s testimony in the espionage case because it did not reflect government policy at the time.
Drafts of witness testimony submitted to deputy national security adviser Matt Collins in late 2023 “included the term ‘enemy’ but removed it from the final draft because it did not reflect government policy,” according to a letter sent to lawmakers Friday.
The Conservatives were in power at that time.
The note submitted by Mr Collins and national security adviser Johnathan Powell to the Joint Committee on National Security Strategy states that the final draft of Collins’ statement was sent to then-prime minister Rishi Sunak in December 2023.
Sir Keir Starmer and the Conservative Party have faced questions over the collapse of the case against Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry and the UK’s relationship with Beijing.
The CPS was also pressured to provide an explanation as to why the case was abandoned. The authority dropped charges against Mr Cash and Mr Berry under the Official Secrets Act in September, a month before the trial was due to begin.
The two have denied accusations of spying for China.
Prosecutors argued there was insufficient evidence provided by the government that Beijing posed a threat to the UK at the time of the alleged crimes.
“Drafts of the statement submitted to DNSA included the term ‘enemy,’ but it removed the term from the final draft because it did not reflect government policy,” according to the letter published Friday.
Two government ministers have been summoned to a hearing into the collapse of the case next week.
The joint committee on national security strategy asked the prime minister’s principal secretary, Darren Jones, and Attorney-General Lord Richard Hermer to give evidence of their investigation on 28 October.
Earlier this week, a home secretary told the Conservative Party to “stop slinging mud” at the government over the issue, insisting the government had not intervened in the case.
Addressing MPs on Monday, security minister Dan Jarvis said: “There is nothing the Prime Minister or any other minister can do at this point that would change the law and policy under the previous government between 2021 and 2023.”
He continued: “Ultimately, it was a completely independent decision by the CPS to stop the case and they confirmed that they were under no external pressure to do so.”
