A parliamentary researcher accused of spying for Beijing was at the ‘heart of government policy on China’, it can be revealed today.
Chris Cash received high-level briefings from former MI6 spies, ambassadors and ministers, gaining extraordinary intelligence on China-related policies before he was dramatically arrested on suspicion of passing on secrets.
But the case against him and an English teacher friend collapsed last month when the Government refused to class Beijing as a threat to national security.
Keir Starmer has claimed his hands were tied, blaming the previous Tory administration for not designating China an adversary at the time of the alleged offences.
But the Daily Mail has discovered that, as the Government was refusing to aid the Crown Prosecution Service with a witness statement to the same effect, then-Foreign Secretary David Lammy had no qualms branding Beijing an ‘enemy’ of Britain during a debate in the Commons.
His comments came almost a year before the case against Mr Cash and Chris Berry collapsed because the Government’s national security adviser refused to say the same thing in court. Both men have strenuously denied any wrongdoing.
Today, shadow national security minister Alicia Kearns reveals she was told she was targeted in the alleged spying operation, and her fears resulting from it.
In one alleged spy dossier were details of the hotel where she stayed in Taiwan on a fact-finding trip as chairman of the foreign affairs committee. In an exclusive interview, Ms Kearns, 37, told how she worries she may have been bugged during the 2022 trip after China threatened that her visit would result in ‘repercussions’.
Chris Cash (pictured) received high-level briefings from former MI6 spies, ambassadors and ministers, gaining extraordinary intelligence on China-related policies before he was dramatically arrested on suspicion of passing on secrets
Shadow national security minister Alicia Kearns (pictured) has revealed she was told she was targeted in the alleged spying operation
She said: ‘They could have got in that room at any time. You can’t be sure that the room hasn’t got a bug or a camera somewhere. There could be photos of you walking around your hotel room naked.’
The mother-of-three fears others Mr Cash met through his parliamentary work may also have been exposed, including Chinese dissidents, victims of ‘transnational repression’, and those intimidated in secret Chinese police stations in the UK.
Mr Cash, with whom she worked for more than a year, was at the ‘heart of government policy on China’, gaining insight from the Foreign Office, Home Office, Treasury and Department for Business and Trade, she says.
In 2022, he was appointed director of the China Research Group, set up by Tory MPs to shape government policy on China amid concerns about Beijing’s attempts to extend its influence in Britain.
The 30-year-old worked on key decisions such as the TikTok ban on government devices and exposing covert Chinese police stations in the UK.
Over the year-long period he is accused of spying until February 2023, Mr Cash spoke to ‘every top China expert in the UK’, from academics and think-tanks to intelligence officials, civil servants and industry leaders in what Ms Kearns believes would have been ‘gold dust’ for Beijing.
The extraordinary revelations will raise yet more questions about why the case was ditched on the eve of trial despite multiple government ministers branding Beijing an enemy.
The Prime Minister has sought to blame the last government’s stance on China, saying the Tories did not designate China as a threat to national security at the time of the alleged offences.
Keir Starmer has claimed his hands were tied when refusing to class Beijing as a national security threat, blaming the previous Tory administration for not designating China an adversary at the time of the alleged offences
But his now deputy described the Chinese as ‘enemies’ of the UK and the US in a bid to defend Labour’s surrender of the Chagos Islands in a Commons debate last year.
Yesterday, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper admitted: ‘We know China poses threats to the UK national security,’ adding: ‘I am deeply frustrated about this case, because I, of course, wanted to see it prosecuted.’
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp told the Daily Mail: ‘The Labour Government themselves are describing China as an enemy, and yet at the same time refusing to hand over to the Crown Prosecution Service documents from 2021 to 2023 that demonstrate the threat China posed.
‘By refusing to do this, they’ve caused an espionage prosecution to collapse, undermining our national security and giving a green light to China to spy on the UK.’
He added: ‘It is a total disgrace that Mr Lammy was happy to describe China as an enemy of the UK to defend the surrender of the Chagos Islands, yet when it comes to defending our own national security, Labour is unwilling to do the same.’
Mr Cash and Mr Berry, 33, deny any wrongdoing, with their lawyers describing the evidence against them as ‘threadbare’.