MPs
consider naming Chinese ‘spy’ linked to Prince Andrew
Allegations
raise calls for caution in UK over bid to re-establish China links
Jessica
Elgot Deputy political editor
Sun 15 Dec
2024 20.16 GMT
MPs fear the
government is moving too fast to re-establish UK-China relations as some
consider naming the alleged spy who used his relationship with Prince Andrew to
get access to the heart of the British establishment
Ministers
will come under pressure this week to set a timeline to revive the foreign
influence registration scheme (FIRS), which had been delayed until next year,
and to put China on the enhanced category for threats.
Labour MPs
are among those urging caution about the government’s warmer approach to China
after the new revelations about the closeness of the now-expelled Chinese
businessman to the Duke of York.
The former
security minister Tom Tugendhat told the Guardian that the enhanced tier of the
scheme had been “specifically designed” to tackle the operations of the Chinese
organisation apparently connected to the expelled businessman. However, there
is still a question mark over whether China will be designated in that category
by the Labour government.
FIRS
requires individuals or entities to register where they are directed by a
foreign power to carry out political influence activities and there is an
enhanced category for some nations, likely to include Russia and Iran.
Conservatives
have claimed the scheme was ready to be put into force by the last government
but the Labour security minister, Dan Jarvis, said in a letter in October that
preparations for the introduction of the scheme by the last government were not
sufficient.
A Home
Office source said the Conservatives had not left the scheme in a fit state to
be enacted but that it was still the government’s intention for it to come into
force.
There is a
court anonymity order protecting the identity of the alleged spy, though that
may be lifted.
Chris Philp,
the shadow home secretary, said the spy should be named. “I hope the court
change or cancel their anonymity order. There may be other people who have had
contact with that person,” he told LBC.
Nigel Farage
said he expected Reform UK MPs to attempt to name the businessman in the House
of Commons this week under parliamentary privilege.
The former
Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith is seeking an urgent question in the
House of Commons on Monday or a government statement where he hopes to put new
pressure on the government on FIRS.
The
revelations come at an awkward moment for the UK government’s attempted reset
of relations with Beijing, embraced by both Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves in a
push for healthier economic growth.
Reeves is
expected to visit China in the second week of January, followed by Starmer
later in the year, which would be the first by a British prime minister in
seven years.
There is
growing unease about the government’s approach to China among some on the
Labour benches and among trade unions. Five new Labour MPs have joined the
China-sceptic group – the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC).
The Labour
MP Blair McDougall, a member of IPAC who sits on the foreign affairs select
committee, said: “This is a reminder you cannot separate one aspect of the
relationship with China from others. China is not only looking at the world in
commercial terms. We cannot be the naive ones in the relationship with China.
“My view of
relationships with authoritarian countries is that if you give them an inch,
they take a mile. What may seem like an overreaction is actually a warning.
We’ve been here before with Russia, where we try and have a positive
relationship, and we let relatively small acts of aggression or espionage go.
We’ve got to learn that lesson in terms of our relationship with China.”
Duncan
Smith, one of the co-chairs of IPAC, will submit an urgent question on the
influence of the United Front Work Department – the shadowy organisation that
is said to be connected to the alleged spy – described as one of the “magic
weapons” of the Chinese Communist party. The purpose of the department is to
befriend influential figures and win them over to China’s way of thinking.
“We want to
know: what’s happening to the risk register? Are you planning to continue with
it? And are you going to put China in the upper tier? So they’re going to come
under pressure,” Duncan Smith told the Guardian.
Tugendhat
said he believed FIRS would have captured the activities of the alleged spy,
had it been in force. He told the Guardian it was vital China was in the
enhanced category in order to detect the work of the United Front.
“The FIRS
scheme is specifically designed to understand and protect against the work of
United Front Work Department actions in the United Kingdom. It’s essential that
China is on the enhanced scheme, to protect against this kind of attempt at
influence.
“This
doesn’t make Chinese citizens or businesses illegal, it gives a starting point
for investigations and gives our intelligence services the tools they need to
protect against this kind of espionage.
Duncan Smith
said he did not know if an attempt to name the alleged operative in parliament
would be successful. “It is ironic if parliament becomes the only place
globally where nobody is allowed to name the guy – and this individual has been
spying on this country.”
It was
revealed over the weekend that Prince Andrew had been pictured alongside the
man now banned from Britain in photographs at St James’ Palace.
The
businessman, who had roles at key UK-China business groups, was filmed for a
Chinese television documentary where he showed photographs of himself alongside
the former prime minister David Cameron, in Downing Street and alongside the
former prime minister Theresa May and her husband, Philip May.
According to
court documents, the businessman was so close to the Duke of York, he was
authorised to act on his behalf in an international financial initiative with
potential partners and investors in China.
When the
businessman’s phone was searched, officials uncovered a letter from March 2020
from Dominic Hampshire, a senior adviser to Prince Andrew, which referred to
him being invited to the duke’s birthday party that month and said: “Outside of
his closest internal confidants, you sit at the very top of a tree that many,
many people would like to be on.”
In a rare
statement, issued through his office, Andrew insisted he “ceased all contact”
with the alleged spy, known as H6, after concerns were raised, and that
“nothing of a sensitive nature was ever discussed”.
The letter
also suggested the relationship had a potentially secretive nature, and said:
“We have found a way to carefully remove those people who we don’t completely
trust … we found a way to get the relevant people unnoticed in and out of the
house in Windsor.”
A document
was also found on the businessman’s phone that had “main talking points” for a
call with the duke, which said he was “in a ‘desperate situation and will grab
on to anything’.”
In the
judgment this month, which upheld the alleged spy’s exclusion from the UK, the
judge found he had “won a significant degree, one could say an unusual degree,
of trust from a senior member of the royal family who was prepared to enter
into business activities with him.”
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