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Sir keir starmeris the former Top bureaucrat has raised questions Prime MinisterAn explanation of how the case against two alleged Chinese spies collapsed.
simon caseChallenged by someone who worked as PM’s Cabinet Secretary Sir Keir claims government’s hands were tied From the previous Conservative government’s stance on whether China is officially a threat.
The Director of Public Prosecutions said this week that a case involving Alleged Chinese spy in Parliament The collapse came after the government refused to recognize Beijing as a national security threat.
Stephen Parkinson said that the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) had tried “for many months” to obtain the evidence needed to prosecute, but had not received the evidence from the Labor government.
And Sir Keir this week tried to blame the previous Tory administration for the failure of the trial.
He said: “We were disappointed that the trial did not go ahead, but the position is very clear that the trial should have been based on the position that stood under the previous Tory government.”
But, in a rare intervention, Lord Case told Wire: “Over the past few years, the heads of our intelligence agencies have publicly described the threat China poses to our national and economic security interests.”
The collapse of the case has raised questions about Britain’s willingness to confront China as Sir Keir’s government seeks closer ties with the country.
Luke D Pulford, head of the Inter-Parliamentary Coalition on China, told Independent: “It is not credible on any level to attempt to claim that there was no evidence available, so the government’s failure to provide evidence to the CPS in this case must have been motivated by something else, and it appears to have been motivated by a desire not to upset China.”
And former security minister Tom Tugendhat wrote Wire The only explanation for the collapse of the affair is that someone in the government “made a choice” that relations with China were more important than national security.
Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden said on Thursday that prosecution was “a decision of the Director of Public Prosecutions”.
He told Sky News: “As the Prime Minister made clear in comments he made during his visit to India, these allegations were made under the previous government and evidence must be provided under the rules in place at that time.”
The case against former parliamentary researchers Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry was dropped on 15 September, drawing criticism from Downing Street and cross-party MPs.
To prove the case under the Official Secrets Act 1911, prosecutors must show that the defendants were working for the “enemy.”
It comes after Mr Parkinson sent a letter to the chairs of the Home Affairs and Justice committees explaining why the case is not progressing.
He wrote: “It was considered that further evidence should be obtained.
“Efforts to obtain that evidence took many months, but despite the fact that further witness statements were provided, none of them stated that China posed a national security threat at the time of the crime, and by the end of August 2025, it was felt that this evidence would not emerge.
“When that became clear, the case could not proceed.”