Downing Street has acknowledged that Sir Keir Starmer was aware the Chinese spy trial was on the verge of collapse but chose not to act, reports BritPanorama.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) required additional evidence to establish China as a hostile actor before pursuing espionage charges against former parliamentary researcher Christopher Cash and teacher Christopher Berry.
No. 10 disclosed that the Prime Minister was notified in September that the case was at risk but deemed it “inappropriate” to intervene. Starmer later expressed his “deep disappointment” regarding the trial’s failure and attributed the setback to the previous Conservative government’s failure to designate China as a threat.
In a sharp rebuttal, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch accused Starmer of failing to protect national security. “The Prime Minister knew the China spying case was about to collapse and did nothing because he’s got no backbone. He’s too weak to stand up for our national security. A shameful dereliction of duty,” she stated.
Witness statements from Deputy National Security Adviser Matthew Collins were assessed by the CPS and deemed insufficient, as they did not explicitly classify China as a threat. During Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs), Sir Keir was challenged to release the statements he previously withheld, with the CPS denying accusations that it was obstructing their disclosure.
Badenoch denounced the situation as reminiscent of a cover-up, accusing the government of shifting blame onto civil servants and the media while dodging accountability. “A serious case involving national security has collapsed because this government is too weak to stand up to China,” she emphasized.
Starmer maintained that the alleged offences occurred during the Conservatives’ tenure, asserting that corresponding evidence must originate from that period. The Tories have also demanded access to the minutes from a confidential meeting with top security official Jonathan Powell, which occurred shortly before the case was dropped. Starmer denied any political interference from Powell and labeled Badenoch’s comments as a “completely scurrilous allegation.”
Separately, Dominic Cummings, Boris Johnson’s former adviser, claimed that China hacked Britain’s most sensitive government systems, exposing “vast amounts” of classified data. He suggested that the breach impacted networks used for transferring sensitive Whitehall files, noting that material from intelligence services was potentially compromised. The Cabinet Office has refuted these claims, insisting that no systems for transferring sensitive information have been breached.
