There is a significant issue with the government's position on the China Spy trial this morning
The government denies that the evidence designating China as an enemy - the evidence on which the case hinged - has changed
Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, said that 'there was no material change in the initial evidence and the evidence that would have gone to trial'
Their position appears to be categoric - that the government's evidence was in line with the public position between 2021 and 2023, which did not designate China an enemy state
BUT Stephen Parkinson, the Director of Public Prosecutions, was explicit. The evidence did change.
He said that when the decision to bring charges was made 'it concluded, correctly in my view, that there was sufficient evidence to prosecute'
He said that the prosecution did not go ahead because of 'evidential failure', specifically 'since the evidence **no longer** met the evidential test'
So you have two positions. The government is saying, on the record, that there was no 'material change' in the evidence. And the DPP is saying, on the record, that there was
We have a position where the home secretary and the DPP appear to be directly contradicting one another