Labour MP Joani Reid resigned the whip after her husband, David Taylor, was arrested for alleged spying for China. Photo / Facebook
A Labour MP has resigned the whip after her husband was arrested on suspicion of spying for China.
Joani Reid’s husband, David Taylor, was detained by the Metropolitan Police on Wednesday and held under the National Security Act before being released on bail.
Two other men – Matthew Aplin, 43, from Pontyclun, South Wales, and Steve Jones, 68, from Powys, Wales, were also arrested. All three suspects, who were held on suspicion of assisting Chinese intelligence, had connections to the Labour Party.
In a statement on Thursday, Reid said she had resigned the whip but denied any wrongdoing.
She said: “This week has been the worst of my life. The shock of recent days has been difficult for me and my family.
“I want to reiterate something very important: I am not under investigation by the police and no accusations have been against me. I have done nothing wrong. I love my country. To serve the people of East Kilbride and Strathaven as their MP and the Labour Party has been – and continues to be – the privilege of my life.
“I understand that speculation and gossip is fevered at a time like this. I do not want the circumstances that I and my family find ourselves in to be a distraction for this government, of which I am proud and in whom I believe. I also do not want my children – who have nothing to answer for and who deserve privacy and compassion – to find themselves subject to intrusion.”
Her intervention came after Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, said she had been referred to the party’s governance and legal unit for investigation.
Sarwar said the allegations against her husband were “deeply concerning” and the unit would consider whether she would be suspended and if she should continue serving on the Commons home affairs committee.
Taylor has also been suspended from the party.
A Labour Party spokesman said: “These are incredibly serious allegations. We cannot comment further while the police investigation is ongoing.”
The Telegraph can also reveal that counter-terrorism police investigating the alleged Chinese spy ring searched the home of a veteran Welsh journalist.
Martin Shipton, 72, the political editor-at-large of the Nation Cymru website, was targeted in a dawn raid on Wednesday morning but was not arrested.
Shipton, who has worked as a journalist in Wales for many years, admitted knowing Taylor and said he had travelled to Hong Kong with him in 2023.
But he said he had no idea why the police would want to search his two-bedroom home in the Riverside area of Cardiff.
Eight counter-terrorism officers turned up at the home he shares with his wife at 6.20am on Wednesday and smashed down the front door.
They spent 13 hours in his house and took away all of his electronic devices, such as phones and computers.
Shipton said they also seized bank statements and asked him whether he had ever dealt in cryptocurrency.
While he was not arrested, he attended Cardiff Bay police station voluntarily to provide a statement.
A friend said: “Martin is a journalist of great probity and is widely respected. It is completely baffling why police would want to raid his home. He has not been arrested, he has not been accused of anything and the police have not explained why he is of interest.”
James Robinson, a former aide to ex-Labour deputy leader Tom Watson, also said police searched his home in relation to the arrests.
Robinson, director of Woburn Partners consultancy, said he was not detained, arrested or questioned.
It is understood that Shipton knows all three of the arrested men, but is particularly close to Taylor.
Alpin is a former senior communications officer for the Labour Party who now works for a public affairs company in Cardiff.
Jones was a special adviser to Hilary Armstrong, now Baroness Armstrong, when she was chief whip under Sir Tony Blair between 2001 and 2006.
Jones, Taylor and Aplin all have links to a green energy company.
One of them is a former shareholder in the wind and solar business, which the Telegraph is not naming. The other two both worked for a lobbying firm that includes it as a client.
There is no suggestion of any connection between the green energy company and the police investigation.
Sign up to Herald Premium Editor’s Picks, delivered straight to your inbox every Friday. Editor-in-Chief Murray Kirkness picks the week’s best features, interviews and investigations. Sign up for Herald Premium here.