Director of Public Prosecutions, Stephen Parkinson has dismissed allegations that a quote from Labour’s manifesto was responsible for derailing the high-profile China espionage case.
The claim circulated by Conservative critics suggested that referencing Labour’s stance on China in a witness statement undermined the prosecution.
Parkinson, appearing before a parliamentary committee, said nothing in the evidence supported that theory, instead backing the government’s position that outdated espionage laws caused the collapse.
Officials told MPs the central issue was that Britain’s espionage legislation had not been modernised, and that at the time, it was the previous government’s policy not to classify China as a national security threat.
Appearing alongside Parkinson, former senior intelligence official Charles Collins said that if the case had gone to court, he would not have called China a generic threat, because it was not official policy.
However, he would have detailed China’s hostile activities. He added that he saw little major difference between Labour and Conservative policy on Beijing.
Collins confirmed he included a line referencing Labour’s China policy in his witness statement at the request of counter-terrorism police, who wanted current government positions reflected. He said he had not intended to quote the Labour manifesto and believed he was drawing from a parliamentary statement.
Meanwhile, further reporting has revealed that messages from Christopher Berry the man accused in the abandoned case suggest he knew he was sharing information with a non-commercial client.
In other political developments, Nigel Farage defended a Reform MP over remarks about diversity in adverts, prison officers criticised the treatment of a colleague involved in a mistaken release, and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband announced £1.1bn in support for offshore wind expansion.
