MPs to hold inquiry into collapsed China spy case after No 10 publishes key evidence | Espionage
MPs will launch an investigation into the collapse of the case of two men accused of spying for China after No 10 published key evidence in a bid to draw the line between them.
Matt Western, a Labor MP and chairman of the joint committee on national security strategy, told the House of Commons there were “many questions yet to be asked” and announced a formal investigation would be launched.
Western was speaking during a pressing question about the unexpected collapse of the case last month.
Charges against former parliamentary inquiry Christopher Cash and teacher Christopher Berry were dropped after prosecutors said the government had failed to present evidence that China posed a “threat to the national security of the United Kingdom”. Cash and Berry have denied any wrongdoing.
Ministers released statements from three witnesses given to prosecutors late on Wednesday following accusations from deputy national security adviser Matthew Collins that they had intervened in the hearing to protect Britain’s trade relationship with China.
Director of prosecutions Stephen Parkinson must now explain why he thinks he cannot proceed with the case, ministers said on Thursday.
Cabinet minister Chris Ward said the decision to abandon the trial was “taken entirely by the Crown Prosecution Service” and Collins’ comments showed he had “taken significant steps to raise the China threat in support of the prosecution”.
Conservative MPs said the third and final statement, presented by Collins in August, reflected the Labor government’s approach to China and directly mirrored language in the party’s manifesto.
Ward said Collins included it “freely, without interference from ministers or advisers” and that it reflected the “wider context of the situation we are in”.
Shadow minister Neil O’Brien questioned why the government had not gone further to provide the level of evidence requested by the CPS.
Former shadow security minister Tom Tugendhat, who employed Cash as an investigator, accused Keir Starmer of hiding behind the process rather than doing everything he could “to make sure the prosecution works”.
Making a warning after the debate, Tügendhat told the MPs, “Frankly, it is not democracy anymore” and added: “The government’s attitude is that bureaucrats run the government, bureaucrats are responsible for everything, can we dissolve this house and save taxpayers’ money?”
Downing Street said on Wednesday that Starmer had been informed days before the CPS was announced that the case was on the verge of collapse, but said it was not for him to intervene in the matter.
Earlier on Thursday, health minister Stephen Kinnock told broadcasters that the government was “deeply disappointed that the prosecution has not proceeded” and that Stephen Parkinson was “the best person to explain” why the CPS felt the government’s evidence did not meet the bar.
In statements written in 2023 and 2025, Collins said Beijing’s intelligence agencies were “conducting large-scale espionage operations” that “harm the interests and security of the United Kingdom” and “threaten the economic prosperity and resilience of the United Kingdom and the integrity of our democratic institutions.”
Asked if this suggested the error was due to the CPS, Kinnock told Sky News: “The DPP told MPs yesterday that he felt 95% of the evidence was there but there was a gaping 5% missing. I think he’s the best person to explain what the missing 5% is.”
Conservative MP Alicia Kearns, who employed Cash as an investigator before his arrest, said on Thursday prosecutors would question Parkinson about why he did not move forward with the case. He told BBC Radio 4: “My view is that the CPS should have moved forward on this and that is a discussion I will have with the DPP when I see it for the first time today.”
Kearns added that “once the government is notified that the case is at risk, they have a duty to act.”
The controversy focused attention on espionage activities carried out by Chinese intelligence services. On Wednesday, Dominic Cummings, who serves as Boris Johnson’s chief adviser, claimed that he and the then-prime minister were informed in 2020 that China had breached secure high-level systems involving Strap material, a security classification for highly sensitive information, and that it had never been publicly disclosed.
The Cabinet Office, senior cybersecurity officials and ministers have since strongly denied the claim that “the most sensitive government information” had been compromised.
