LONDON — No.10 Downing Street denied any role in the controversial decision not to prosecute two British men, including a former parliamentary researcher, who were accused of spying for China.
Christopher Cash, a former parliamentary aide to two Conservative MPs, and his friend Christopher Berry were due to face trial this month, but the case was dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) on 15 September. Both men strongly denied the charges against them.
The Sunday Times and the Telegraph reported last week that the trial collapsed in part because of the British government’s refusal to describe China as an “enemy” in witness evidence from a security official.
However, the prime minister’s spokesman denied the account when quizzed Monday.
“There was no role for any government, minister or member of the government in this decision-making process,” the spokesman said. They subsequently clarified that this included officials.
The Sunday Times claimed that Jonathan Powell, the prime minister’s national security adviser, had chaired a meeting in Whitehall last month where he told officials the government’s evidence would rely on the recently published National Security Strategy. The strategy does not refer to China as an “enemy” state, calling it a “geo-strategic challenge” instead.
Cash and Berry were suspected of breaching the 1911 Official Secrets Act, which says that a person is guilty of spying if they pass on information that is “directly or indirectly useful to an enemy.”
The PM’s spokesman said Monday that the government’s evidence could not have drawn on the 2025 National Security Strategy, but would have instead cited the policy of the Conservative government in power when the alleged offenses had taken place, between 2021 and early 2023.
The PM’s press secretary added: “The suggestions that the government withheld evidence, withdrew witnesses, or restricted the ability of witness to draw on particular bits of evidence, are all untrue.”
Government officials also highlighted that the Official Secrets Act has been superseded by the National Security Act, which refers to “malign activity” rather than an “enemy.”
The CPS said at the time the case was dropped that there was no outside pressure to avoid prosecution and that the “evidential standard” was “no longer met.”
House of Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle has expressed unhappiness at the outcome and is considering bringing a private prosecution. Security Minister Dan Jarvis said he was “extremely disappointed” that there would be no trial and the government remained “gravely concerned about the threat of Chinese espionage.”
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