The 
Government did not have the “mettle to defend the British people”
Labour secretly sabotaged the trial of two spies by refusing to brand China an “enemy”. Last month prosecutors dropped charges against Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry, who were accused of passing information about Government’s foreign policy to a high-ranking member of the 
government.
At the time, Sir Keir Starmer’s spokesman said that it was “extremely disappointing” that the two men would not face trial, adding that the charges were “gravely concerning”.
In reality the case collapsed because ministers withdrew a star witness who had been tasked with testifying that China was an “enemy” of the UK.
Under the Official Secrets Act 1911, Cash and Berry were accused of collecting and passing information that would be “directly or indirectly useful to an enemy”.
The Crown Prosecution Service had previously been assured by the Conservative government that a senior civil servant would give evidence to establish that Beijing was an enemy of Britain, which was required for the prosecution to succeed.
Plans were also laid for intelligence officials to testify in a closed court to protect their identity.
However, Labour ministers told prosecutors they were no longer willing to describe China as an enemy in court, causing the case to collapse in early Sep.
Dan Jarvis, the Labour security minister, told Parliament last month that the CPS decision to drop the case was “independent” from the Government and it was “not for any government minister to speculate on the reasons behind it”.
He told MPs: “Many members will be as extremely disappointed — as I am — that there will now not be a trial.”
Chinese groups have been accused by ministers and UK intelligence agencies of hundreds of cyber attacks. Sir Richard Moore, the outgoing head of MI6, has described China as “the single greatest priority” of his agency, while the Intelligence and Security Committee has warned of Beijing’s “prolific and aggressive” attempts to gain access to Britain’s spy agencies.
However, Labour has tried to build closer diplomatic links with China in the hope of securing investment to grow the economy. In July, Sir Keir quietly sent Jonathan Powell, his national security adviser, to Beijing to hold talks with his Chinese counterpart that were only announced by Chinese state media.
Cash, who worked for Tory MPs, and Berry, a teacher, were accused last year of passing “politically sensitive information” about the China Research Group in Parliament and government policy to a “senior member of the Chinese Communist Party and a politburo member” through a Chinese intermediary.
The official who commissioned the research has since been named in media reports as Cai Qi (蔡奇), a senior aide to Xi Jinping.
The CPS insisted last month that no “outside pressure” had been applied to drop their case, but Stephen Parkinson, the director of public prosecutions, hinted in a letter to Chris Philp, the Tory MP, that failing to designate China as an enemy had caused problems for the prosecution.
He described that legal test as a “limitation” and said there had been an “evidential failure” this year, even though there was “sufficient evidence to prosecute” at the time the men were charged under the Conservative government in April 2024.
Ministers have previously used the deputy national security adviser, a Downing Street civil servant, to testify in cases involving the Official Secrets Act. Matt Collins, the current official in that role, gave a written statement for the trial of a Bulgarian spy ring working for the Kremlin earlier this year.
Labour ministers have sometimes described China as a “sophisticated and persistent threat” but prefer to label the country as a “competitor” that also offers investment opportunities for the UK
telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/
Quote
Byron Wan
@Byron_Wan
British prosecutors suspected that Cai Qi (蔡奇), China’s fifth most senior official, was in receipt of intelligence from Westminster in a controversial and now-abandoned espionage case. The Crown Prosecution Service dropped the charges against British researchers x.com/byron_wan/stat…