Home Secretary Priti Patel has warned MPs they need to be aware of the threat of interference in British politics by foreign states following disclosure a suspected Chinese agent has been targeting Parliament.
Last week MI5 took the unusual step of circulating an alert to MPs and peers that Christine Lee, a prominent London-based solicitor, has been engaged in “political interference activities” on behalf of China’s ruling communist regime.
They were said to include channelling funds to British parliamentarians with a view to making the UK political landscape more favourable to Beijing.
In a Commons statement, Ms Patel said that the threat of such interference operations by foreign powers was “growing and diversifying”.
She said ministers were working with police and the Crown Prosecution Service to give them additional powers to tackle activities which were not currently illegal.
“We can expect to see these kinds of alerts become more commonplace as a result of the work of our world class intelligence agencies who have adapted to counter these new and emerging threats,” she said.
“We will introduce new legislation to provide the security services and law enforcement agencies with the tools they need to disrupt the full range of state threats.”
The senior Labour MP Barry Gardiner, who received more than £500,000 from Ms Lee to pay for researchers in his office, told the House that he been assured that the MI5 alert did not relate to those donations.
He called on Ms Patel to say what action was being taken to identify where the “tainted” funds had ended up and whether MPs would be given extra support in making required checks about the true source of any donation.
“She will know the security services told me their alert was based on specific intelligence of illegal funding which did not relate to the donations which paid for my office staff.
“Those ceased in 2020,” he said.
“Is she able to tell the House what steps she is taking to ascertain where the tainted money ended up?”
Ms Patel replied: “It is fact that across this House we will absolutely come together to do everything possible in terms of protecting the integrity of our democracy and all honourable members from such malign interference and threat.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel