Alleged China spy breaks silence as MI5 chief brands Beijing a daily threat

China poses a "daily" threat to national security in the UK, the head of MI5 has warned.

Sir Ken McCallum, the Director General of MI5, vowed to "never back off" from confronting Chinese spies as he told of his frustration over the bungled prosecution of two alleged moles.

Sir Ken said the security service worked "very hard" to make convictions possible, "so it's frustrating when they don't happen".

MI5 also foiled a plot directed by Beijing in the past week, the intelligence chief revealed, heaping pressure on Sir Keir Starmer to block plans for a Chinese super embassy in the heart of London.

Sir Ken said: "Do Chinese state actors present a UK national security threat? The answer is, of course they do, every day.

"I said that last year, I said it the year before, I said it the year before that.

"If I'm in this job a year from now, I'm sure I will say it then too."

Chinese spies regularly try to steal state secrets, academic research, business information and harass and kidnap dissidents living in the UK.

And Labour is facing intense scrutiny over its role in the collapse of the trial of two alleged spies - Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry.

Downing Street branded claims Prime Minister Sir Keir should have intervened in the case - which collapsed in September - as "frankly absurd".

Mr Cash - a former Parliamentary researcher who worked on China policies - and Mr Berry - who both deny the charges - were accused of passing sensitive intelligence on the inner workings of Parliament to the Chinese Communist Party.

This was then handed to a senior member of the Chinese Communist Party and a Politburo member.

Deputy National Security Adviser Matthew Collins said a meeting between Mr Berry and a senior Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader in July 2022 was "highly unlikely" to have happened "unless the Chinese state considered him to be someone who could obtain valuable information".

Mr Collins said Mr Cash was made aware "in detail" of the July 2022 meeting, with the researcher allegedly sending Mr Berry a message which read: "You're in spy territory now."

The Chinese intelligence agent allegedly commissioned at least 34 reports from Mr Berry - some of which contained information from Mr Cash.

But Mr Berry denied passing sensitive information to a Chinese intelligence service.

He claimed he was providing reports to a Chinese company that wanted to trade in the UK.

He said in a statement on Thursday: "I pleaded not guilty to the charge, and I have been acquitted.

"I have consistently denied any wrongdoing and continue to do so yet I find myself now unfairly subjected to a trial by media, caught in the middle whilst various groups seek to use the case to their political advantage.

"My reports were provided to a Chinese company which I believed had clients wishing to develop trading links with the UK. Those reports contained no classified information.

"They concerned economic and commercial issues widely discussed in the UK at the time and drew on information freely in the public domain, together with political conjecture, much of which proved to be inaccurate.

"I do not accept that, in so doing, I was providing information to the Chinese intelligence services, nor is it tenable that the provision of such material could, in any sense, be considered for a purpose prejudicial to the safety or interests of the state.

"This would have been one of many issues raised with the jury during a trial. I ask that I am now left in peace as I attempt to rebuild my life."

Despite the bungled case, and fears Labour prioritised an economic relationship with Beijing over national security, MI5 vowed to continue hunting Chinese spies.

Sir Ken said: "MI5 will keep doing what the public should expect of us: preventing, detecting and disrupting activity of national security concern.

"Our track record is strong. We've intervened operationally again just in the last week.

"I am MI5 born and bred. I will never back off from confronting threats to the UK, wherever they are from."

And Britain's top intelligence officer admitted he was frustrated the case against Mr Berry and Mr Cash collapsed.

Sir Ken said: "Clearly, when we believe there has been activity threatening UK national security, convictions are great, we work very hard with our police colleagues to make those possible.

"So, it's frustrating when they don't happen. But I would invite everyone not to miss that this was a strong disruption in the interests of the UK's national security."

Ministers have insisted throughout the scandal that the collapsed case relied upon the previous Tory government's policy towards China, which classified the Communist state as an "epoch-defining challenge" rather than a threat.

But in the last paragraph of his third and final statement in August, just weeks before the case collapsed, Mr Collins used the exact language of the current Labour Government's "Three C's" approach: co-operation where there are shared interests, competition in other areas, and challenge on issues including national security.

And Tory leader Kemi Badenoch accused the Government of submitting a "lovely statement about how great China was" to the Crown Prosecution Service.

Responding to the release of deputy national security adviser Matt Collins's witness statements, Mrs Badenoch said: "They should have provided the evidence to the CPS that showed that China was a threat. We had loads of evidence. We've made repeated statements about that.

"There are examples that they could have pointed to about China hacking into Whitehall government systems. They did not provide any of that.

"Instead, what they provided was a lovely statement about how great China was. That's an embarrassment."

She said: "They were informed that the spy case was collapsing. They could have intervened to stop it. They didn't, because they're too weak to stand up to China."

She accused Sir Keir Starmer's administration of trying to "blame the last government" but "it's failing, and the witness statement is proving that what they have done has misled Parliament".

Asked why Sir Keir did not intervene when the CPS said it would withdraw the case, given the Government's evidence describing threats China poses to the UK, a Downing Street spokesman said: "The suggestion that the Prime Minister should have stepped in at this point is frankly absurd.

"If he was to do so he would have been interfering in a case related to a previous government, a previous policy, previous legislation."

Sir Ken's bombshell comments have reignited calls for plans to build a Chinese super embassy at the former Royal Mint building in London to be blocked.

Shadow Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government Sir James Cleverly said: "The Government has actively sought to silence the warnings about the threats to national security from the mega-embassy.

"If Keir Starmer had any backbone, he would ensure his Government threw out this sinister application - as Ireland and Australia did when faced with similar embassy development proposals from Russia."

Liberal Democrat Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Calum Miller said: "The MI5 chief has offered absolute clarity on this labyrinthine issue, and the strongest confirmation yet of China's threat status.

"Chinese efforts to target and undermine our national security were live as recently as last week. This revelation must be the final nail in the coffin of Beijing's hopes for a super-embassy in the heart of London.

"It would be insane to allow it to go ahead - a blank cheque for China to hoover up sensitive data from London's financial heart, and to threaten Hong Kongers who fled their repressive regime and we have vowed to protect.

"The Government must stand up to China, put its duty to our democracy first and refuse to allow the CCP to expand its spying network in Britain from the inside out."