China spying case collapses as Britain seeks to rebuild economic ties with Beijing

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is trying cautiously to improve relations with Beijing as part of his push to boost the UK’s economic growth. Photo / Jason Alden, Bloomberg via The Washington Post

Top British security officials will face questions over an aborted China spying case brought by its chief prosecutor, which collapsed as it is seeking to rebuild economic ties with the country.

The case against Christopher Berry and Christopher Cash, who were charged last year under the Official Secrets Act over allegations they spied for China between 2021 and 2023, was dropped last month.

A government spokesperson denied a report in the Sunday Times that it was the interference of senior United Kingdom government officials, including national security adviser Jonathan Powell, that torpedoed the case.

Powell agreed in June to give evidence to Parliament’s Joint Committee on the UK’s National Security Strategy.

Though the committee’s inquiry is about the wider strategy, he is expected to be asked about the collapsed case, according to a person familiar with the matter.

A date has yet to be decided, but Powell could appear before the committee within weeks, they said, adding that a report is unlikely to be published until next year.

Such documents usually summarise the evidence heard in private, and don’t directly quote what is said.

Senior officers from domestic MI5 are also expected to give evidence to Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee about their involvement in the case, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named when discussing closed-door proceedings.

The Crown Prosecution Service said the case was dropped because it no longer met its evidential test, despite concluding there was sufficient evidence to prosecute when the men were charged last year.

In correspondence with an opposition MP obtained by Bloomberg, its director wrote that there “had not been any disclosure or pressure, and I can give you my own assurance that this was the case”.

The Sunday Times report had said the decision by the CPS was made after officials decided that evidence in the trial would operate in line with the government’s National Security Strategy, which characterises China as a ‘geostrategic challenge’ rather than a ‘threat’ or ‘enemy’ - effectively torpedoing the case.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office said yesterday that suggestions of government interference in the case were “all untrue”.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood told the BBC she was “very disappointed” at the collapse and denied ministerial interference.

“Our understanding is that the evidence that was available to the Crown Prosecution Service when they brought the charges is not materially different to the evidence that they had just before the trial was due to get under way,” she added.

Starmer is trying cautiously to improve relations with Beijing as part of his push to boost the UK’s economic growth.

The two countries resumed Joint Economic and Trade Commission talks last month after a seven-year hiatus.

Later this month UK ministers are expected to make a long-anticipated decision on whether China’s plans for a new embassy in London can go ahead.

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