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Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has formally requested that the Prime Minister address “unanswered” questions surrounding the collapse of the case against two men accused of espionage on behalf of China.
Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry, who deny the allegations, saw charges against them dropped in September, a decision that has drawn criticism from Members of Parliament.
The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) attributed the case’s collapse to the government’s inability to provide evidence characterizing China as a national security threat. Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson expressed ministerial “disappointment” that the case did not proceed, speaking on Sunday.
In her letter to the Prime Minister, Badenoch stated that the government’s account of the situation has been subject to “repeated changes”.
Sir Keir Starmer previously indicated that ministers were limited to drawing upon the prior government’s assessment of China – which designated it an “epoch-defining challenge”. His government maintains it is “frustrated” by the trial’s collapse.
Badenoch’s letter, sent on Sunday, outlined “several key questions which remain unanswered,” requesting that either Starmer or a senior minister appear before MPs “to clear things up once and for all.”
“This is a matter of the utmost importance, involving alleged spying on Members of Parliament,” she wrote. “It seems that you and your ministers have been too weak to stand up to Beijing on a crucial matter of national security.”
The letter specifically questioned remarks made by Phillipson to the BBC earlier in the day, in which she asserted that Starmer’s national security advisor, Jonathan Powell, had no involvement in the “substance or the evidence” of the case.
Phillipson further stated that ministers were “deeply disappointed that the case hasn’t proceeded,” and insisted that the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) was “best placed to explain why it was not able to bring forward a prosecution.”
The Conservative party had suggested that Powell, who has advocated for closer relations with Beijing, failed to provide the CPS with the necessary evidence to secure convictions.
Badenoch challenged Phillipson’s comments, asking: “What does this mean? If he was “not involved” in the decision over months not to give the CPS what they needed, then who was?”
The opposition leader also alleged that the government – which had previously denied ministerial involvement in the trial’s collapse before the DPP’s statement regarding the unavailable material – had sought to “appease China.”
She disputed Starmer’s claim that ministers were limited to the previous Conservative government’s position, writing: “As various leading lawyers have pointed out, this is not how the law works.”
Starmer had told reporters earlier in the week: “You have to prosecute people on the basis of the circumstances at the time of the alleged offence.”
“So all the focus needs to be on the policy of the Tory government in place then.”
Badenoch requested that Starmer clarify whether any ministers were aware of the government’s interactions with the CPS, in which it allegedly “refused” to provide the material being sought.
She also inquired whether the matter had ever been raised with Starmer, including by Powell, and if an earlier denial of the government’s involvement had been “misleading.”
The Conservatives have submitted an urgent question in Parliament, requesting that ministers address MPs on Monday to explain the trial’s collapse.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp told the BBC that ministers “must urgently explain why it chose not to disclose the reams of information it has demonstrating China was a threat to national security in the 2021-2023 period.”
He stated: “It looks as if Jonathan Powell was behind this decision – and he should resign if he is.”
Meanwhile, several former Conservative ministers and advisors have told the BBC that there was no formal designation of whether a country amounts to a threat.
They claim there is a document with “hundreds” of examples of Chinese activity posing a threat to the UK at the time of the alleged offences, which could have been given as evidence.
Sources cited the hack on the Ministry of Defence, which ministers suspected China was behind, as one of many incidents.
“I don’t think there is a sane jury in the world that would look at that evidence and conclude China was not a threat,” a source in the last government said.
Former Conservative ministers also point to public statements, including from the former head of MI5 Ken McCallum, who in 2023 said there had been a “sustained campaign” of Chinese espionage on a “pretty epic scale”.
The Liberal Democrats said the government’s approach to China was “putting our national security at risk.”
The party urged the government to block the planning application for a new Chinese embassy in London.
“Giving the green light to the super embassy being built in the heart of the City of London and above critical data connections would enable Chinese espionage on an industrial scale,” Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Calum Miller said.
Mr. Cash, a former parliamentary researcher, and Mr. Berry were charged under the Official Secrets Act in April 2024, during the Conservative’s tenure in power.
They were accused of gathering and providing information prejudicial to the safety and interests of the state between December 2021 and February 2023.
Under the Official Secrets Act, a prosecution for espionage requires demonstrating that the information passed on was useful to an enemy.
Last month, the DPP stated that “the case could no longer proceed to trial since the evidence no longer met the evidential test.”
Additional reporting by Maia Davies
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