UK PM Starmer faces fresh questions over collapsed China spying case
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s bid to close the chapter on a collapsed China spying case has sparked new scrutiny, raising questions about the country’s legal system and the embattled leader’s handling of national security.
The controversy stems from the Crown Prosecution Service’s (CPS) decision last month to drop espionage charges against two British men — former parliamentary researcher Christopher Cash and academic Christopher Berry — accused of spying for Beijing between 2021 and 2023. Both denied the allegations, News.Az reports, citing Reuters.
Prosecutors said they were forced to abandon the case after failing to obtain evidence from the government that officially defined China as a national security threat — a requirement to proceed under espionage laws.
To dispel accusations of political interference, Starmer’s government on Wednesday published three witness statements from Deputy National Security Adviser Matthew Collins. The documents outlined “malign Chinese activity” but stopped short of labeling China as an enemy, a phrase Starmer said was necessary for prosecution — and which the former Conservative government had avoided using.
In one statement dated December 12, 2023, Collins wrote that the suspects’ actions “were prejudicial to the safety or interests of the UK” and that the information “would be directly or indirectly useful to the Chinese state.” However, he also stressed that Britain remained “committed to pursuing a positive economic relationship with China.”
Starmer’s Labour government has promoted what it calls a “three Cs approach” toward Beijing — to compete, cooperate, and confront — as part of its broader economic growth strategy.
The opposition Conservative Party accused the government of leaving “many unanswered questions,” including the potential involvement of ministers in the decision to withhold key evidence.
Starmer, whose approval ratings have hit record lows since taking office last year, insisted neither ministers nor the national security adviser interfered in the case.
Legal experts, however, say the CPS must clarify why the espionage charges were deemed unsustainable. “It is hard to see how specific allegations of espionage could not be a threat to national security,” legal analyst Joshua Rozenberg wrote on Substack. “Answers are needed from prosecutors.”
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