China spy case witness removed ‘enemy’ from evidence under Tories

A key witness in the China spying case removed the term “enemy” from the final draft of a witness statement submitted to prosecutors, because it did not reflect government policy at the time.

In a letter to MPs, deputy national security adviser Matthew Collins said the word “enemy” was included in the draft witness statement written when the Conservatives were in power.

But he said he told police investigating the case he could not call China an “enemy” as this “did not reflect government policy”.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has been accused by the Conservatives of allowing the case to collapse earlier this year by not describing China as a threat to national security.

The PM’s official spokesperson said Collins’ letter and evidence by others published today “underline the position the government has set out repeatedly”.

“The position throughout has been clear that what is relevant in a criminal case of this nature is the government’s position at the time of the alleged offences,” the spokesperson said.

Downing Street officials say these documents are proof that there was no political interference from the current government, no minister or special adviser was involved in the evidence, and witness statements could not be shared.

These are all things the Conservatives have been arguing to the contrary.

The focus now turns on the Conservatives and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in the ongoing row about who was to blame for the collapse of the trial.

Responding to the new evidence, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch argued “the point is that the alleged spies were charged under a Conservative government” and they were “let off under a Labour government”.

She said she had labelled China as a “threat to our economy” and while she was in office.

The Liberal Democrats said the latest revelations “make a mockery of the Conservative leadership’s faux outrage” and urged Badenoch to “answer some of the very questions she’s been so keen to ask”.

Charges against Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry – who deny the allegations – were dropped in September.

Director of Public Prosecutions Stephen Parkinson, who heads the CPS, said the case fell apart because evidence could not be obtained from the government referring to China as a national security threat.

The Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy, which is made up of senior MPs and peers, launched an inquiry last week and has published evidence from Collins and others.

It’s expected that evidence submitted to Parliament by the director of public prosecutions will also be published later today.

Among those giving evidence at a hearing next week will be Collins, who provided prosecutors with three witness statements – two written while the Conservatives were in power and one under Labour.

The three statements were published by the government last week.

In his first witness statement, submitted on 22 December 2023, Collins described the UK’s policy towards China, as it stood under the then-Tory government.

He said China posed an “epoch-defining challenge”, in language that mirrored government policy at the time, as outlined in the Integrated Review Refresh 2023.

Collins – the deputy director of national security (DNSA) – has now submitted evidence in a letter to the committee before appearing in front of MPs.

Cash and Berry were charged under the Official Secrets Act 1911.

Under the legislation, anyone accused of spying can only be prosecuted if the information they passed on was useful to an enemy.

In his letter, Collins said Counter Terrorism Police (CTP) requested that he act as a witness in the case in August 2023, including to support the “enemy” description needed to mount a prosecution under the 1911 Act.

Collins said his legal counsel worked with junior officials to prepare “a draft text which could form the basis of a witness statement”.

He said he reviewed the “draft wording and amended the statement to ensure factual accuracy and that it was in line with current government policy”.

In his letter, Collins wrote: “These amendments reflected the DNSA’s assessment of the evidence provided by operational partners based on his professional experience in advising the prime minister on national security threats, and to accurately represent the government’s view of the range of national security threats posed by China.

“Drafts of a statement provided to DNSA included the term ‘enemy’ but he removed this term from the final draft as it did not reflect government policy.”

Collins said he sent a final version of the draft to the prime minister at the time, Rishi Sunak, and his special advisers.

He said at this point, police were told he “could not call China an ‘enemy’ as this did not reflect government policy”.

Collins said prosecutors were made “aware of this in December 2023, which was before charges were brought”.

He said police asked him to provide two further witness statements, which he submitted in February and August this year.

Collins said when police requested the third witness statement, it was “made clear by CTP that they were only asking for the government’s view of the threat from China at the material time that the offences were committed”.

Labour’s Attorney General Lord Hermer has also submitted evidence to the same committee.

In it, he revealed he was informed on 3 September that prosecutors were dropping the case – but was told not to alert other ministers, including the prime minister.

Lord Hermer said he received routine updates from the CPS in August indicating the trial was expected to proceed.

But during a meeting on 3 September, DPP Parkinson confirmed the decision to drop the case.

Lord Hermer said at the DPP’s request, he kept the information confidential until police and defendants were informed.

The attorney general said “there is nothing unusual” in the law officers “being requested to keep information about individual prosecution decisions confidential even from senior colleagues”.