By Eniola Amadu
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has written to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer demanding answers over the collapse of the espionage case against two men accused of spying for China.
Charges against Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry, who deny the allegations, were dropped in September, sparking criticism from MPs.
The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) said the case fell apart because key evidence referring to China as a national security threat could not be obtained from the government.
In her letter, Badenoch accused the government of changing its story “repeatedly” and being “too weak to stand up to Beijing on a crucial matter of national security.”
Badenoch outlined a series of “unanswered questions”, urging the prime minister or a senior minister to appear before MPs “to clear things up once and for all.”
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson had earlier told the BBC that Jonathan Powell, Starmer’s national security adviser, had no role in the “substance or the evidence” of the case, and said ministers were “deeply disappointed that the case hasn’t proceeded.”
But the Conservatives have claimed Powell, who has sought closer ties with Beijing, failed to provide the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) with the material it needed to secure convictions.
Badenoch questioned Phillipson’s remarks, asking: “If he was ‘not involved’ in the decision over months not to give the CPS what they needed, then who was?”
She also disputed Starmer’s explanation that ministers could only rely on the former Conservative government’s assessment of China as an “epoch-defining challenge”, arguing: “As various leading lawyers have pointed out, this is not how the law works.”
Starmer said earlier this week: “You have to prosecute people on the basis of the circumstances at the time of the alleged offence. So all the focus needs to be on the policy of the Tory government in place then.”
Badenoch asked whether any ministers knew about interactions with the CPS in which the government “refused” to share the requested material, and if Starmer had been briefed on the issue.
The Conservatives have tabled an urgent question in Parliament, calling for ministers to explain on Monday why the case collapsed.
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp told the BBC: “It looks as if Jonathan Powell was behind this decision and he should resign if he is.”
Several former Conservative ministers told the BBC there was no ambiguity at the time about China posing a national security threat, citing examples such as a suspected Chinese hack on the Ministry of Defence and warnings from MI5 in 2023 about a “sustained campaign” of Chinese espionage.
The Liberal Democrats also criticised the government’s handling of China relations, saying it was “putting our national security at risk”, and urged ministers to block plans for a new Chinese embassy in London.
Mr Cash, a former parliamentary researcher, and Mr Berry were charged in April 2024 under the Official Secrets Act with gathering information “prejudicial to the safety and interests of the state” between December 2021 and February 2023.
Last month, the DPP confirmed the case was halted because “the evidence no longer met the evidential test”.
