Opposition leader Kemi Badenoch has written to Prime Minister Keir Starmer with questions regarding the collapse of the trial of alleged Chinese spies amid a deepening row over Labour’s handling of national security and trade relations with the world’s second largest economy.
Badenoch has demanded Starmer come clean on national security adviser Jonathan Powell’s role in the collapsed trial of Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry, who both deny allegations they acted as spies for China when working as researchers.
Her questions came ahead of parliament’s return from recess on Monday, with the government’s position on its diplomatic relations with China appearing to shift after a minister suggested the country did “pose national security threats”.
In Badenoch’s letter, she asked whether Starmer knew about the government’s interactions with the Crown Prosecution Service before the case collapsed and whether Powell informed him about his involvement in the case’s collapse.
She also asked Starmer, who has travelled to Egypt to attend a summit on the Israel-Gaza ceasefire agreement, whether the government agreed with former security chiefs and prosecutors that it should have been argued court that China was a national security threat.
Starmer’s account ‘changed repeatedly’
“Your government’s account of what has happened has changed repeatedly. Instead of setting out the full facts before the House of Commons today, you are planning to travel to the Middle East,” Badenoch wrote.
Opposition members are also demanding that a government minister appears before parliament to offer answers on the case.
On Monday morning, Middle East minister Hamish Falconer echoed education secretary Bridget Phillipson in claiming that Powell was not involved in the “evidence or substance” of the case’s collapse.
But Falconer did say that the government does consider China to be a threat in some cases.
“They do pose national security threats to the UK, whether that’s in relation to cybersecurity, transnational repression, their relationship with Russia, in relation to the conflict in Ukraine; but there are also, of course, areas where we have to co-operate,” he told Times Radio.
The Labour minister also blamed the Official Secrets Act for being “ropey” as a reason for the collapse of the trial.
Starmer faces decision on Chinese embassy
New questions are also emerging regarding China’s application for a new embassy at the Royal Mint Court Site on the edge of the City of London.
A final decision has still not been made regarding the application but The Times reported China had been assured by the UK government that it would progress.
A call on its approval could be declared within days, according to reports.
The debacle is proving to be awkward for the government as several former civil servants including Lord Sedwill and former public prosecutors have criticised the collapse of the spying case.
On the weekend The Sunday Times reported that President Trump’s administration is also alarmed by the UK’s diplomatic relations with China.