New witness statements for a collapsed spy case raise questions for the CPS

No 10 has published key witness statements at the centre of the controversy over a collapsed China spy case.

So what? The Crown Prosecution Service is now in the spotlight. Two British men were supposed to go on trial this month charged with breaching the Official Secrets Act. But the prosecution was unexpectedly dropped because the CPS said it had been unable to obtain testimony from officials describing China as a national security threat. This is despite three statements written by deputy national security adviser Matthew Collins, who said

• the government was “committed to pursuing a positive economic relationship with China”; but that
• Beijing’s intelligence services conduct “large scale espionage operations against the UK to advance the Chinese state’s interests”; and
• China’s operations “threaten the UK’s economic prosperity and resilience, and the integrity of our democratic institutions”.

Some context. Former parliamentary researcher Christoper Cash and his friend Christoper Berry, an academic based in China, were arrested in 2023. Prosecutors claimed that a high-ranking Chinese official commissioned Berry to write 34 reports on political subjects. They believe several of these contained information sourced from Cash, who directed the China Research Group, a hawkish group of Conservative MPs focused on UK-China relations.

Some detail. The alleged offences occurred between 2021 and 2023. Prosecutors concluded that ten of the reports were “prejudicial to the safety or interests” of the UK. Berry said he believed he was working for a consultancy. The information passed on by Cash allegedly included details of a trip that the foreign affairs committee made to Taiwan in 2022.

Revelation. The CPS said it tried for “many months” to get evidence from the government that China was a national security threat, which was deemed necessary per the Official Secrets Act. Collins’s statements seem to be close to that.

Doubts. Questions will now be raised about the strength of the case and whether the CPS has tried to shift blame for its collapse onto the government. An expert who was due to appear for the defence has told The Observer that “99 per cent” of the information allegedly passed to Beijing was already in the public domain, although more details might have become known had the trial proceeded.

More doubts. It is not known if prosecutors can show that Cash received money for allegedly passing secrets to China. A crucial piece of evidence was reported to be payments worth £600, which investigators believed were a reward from Beijing. It appears these were in fact for translation work. They have reportedly been removed from the case.

Blurred lines. The defence team has also cast doubt on the allegation that Berry, a former English teacher, would have had direct access to an official in the upper echelons of the Chinese politburo.

Back in Westminster. The Conservatives have accused Labour of kowtowing to Beijing to avoid damaging relaunched trade talks with China. Labour has tried to shift the blame onto the Tories, who were in power when the alleged offences happened. Yesterday Starmer said that Kemi Badenoch declined to call China a “foe” when she was business secretary.

The threat is real. In his statements, Collins points to a cyber attack made on the electoral commission between 2021 and 2023. UK authorities believe that Beijing was responsible.

Meanwhile… spying concerns are at the heart of the dispute over whether to approve China’s new mega embassy in London. Ministers are expected to delay the decision until next month.

Photographs by Tayfun Salci/Zuma Press/Alamy