Tom Tugendhat, the Tory former security minister, used an interview on the Today programme this morning to attack the government for its stance on the China spy prosecution that collapsed. He claimed the government was “willing to cover up for the actions of a hostile state which is seeking to intervene in the freedoms of the British people”.
Share
Badenoch sets out six questions for ministers to answer on collapse of China spy trial
Last night the Conservative party released the text of an open letter from Kemi Badenoch to Keir Starmer about the collapse of the China spy trial. In it, Badenoch said Starmer should arrange for a minister to make a statement about it in the Commons today and she set out six questions that she said needed to be answered.
For the record, here they are:
· Is your argument that no minister knew anything of the government’s interactions with the CPS [Crown Prosecution Service] over the “many months” in which your government refused to give the CPS the material it wanted?
· Did ministers at HMT [His Majesty’s Treasury], Home Office or the FCDO [Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office] ever brief you, the prime minister, about this matter or refer to it in any way? Did Jonathan Powell mention it to you at any point?
· Is your government still denying that a meeting including Jonathan Powell and FCDO permanent secretary took place in early September? If not, why did the home secretary and your spokesman deny this?
· Ministers now say your national security adviser was “not involved in the substance of the case and discussions around that”. What does this mean? If he was “not involved” in the decision over months not to give the CPS what they needed, then who was?
· Does the aovernment now accept that what Dan Jarvis told the House of Commons on 15 September, ie that the government had no warning and wasn’t involved, was misleading? Will you ensure that the record is corrected urgently?
· Is it still your government’s position to claim that it would have been impossible to argue that China was a threat in court? If so, do you think the former head of public prosecutions, two former cabinet secretaries, and a former head of MI6 are all wrong?
Share
Jonathan Powell praised as ‘incredible’ by Trump envoy as MPs prepare to debate his role in collapse of China spy trial
Good morning. Keir Starmer will be in Egypt today, attending the Middle East peace summit being co-chaired by Donald Trump. The PM will be a minor figure in a huge global story, and Yohannes Lowe is covering it all on our Middle East live blog.
At Westminster MPs are returning to the Commons after the four-week conference recess where the news here won’t be making global headlines. But, in a curious twist, a tweet from Steve Witkoff, President Trump’s peace envoy, has managed to link Gaza with the main talking point in Westminster politics this morning.
About two hours ago Witkoff posted this on X.
I would like to acknowledge the vital role of the United Kingdom in assisting and coordinating efforts that have led us to this historic day in Israel. In particular, I want to recognize the incredible input and tireless efforts of National Security Advisor Jonathan Powell.
This seemed to be a response to what Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to Israel, posted on X yesterday in a comment on a video clip of Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, saying in a Sunday morning interview that the UK had played a key role behind the scenes in shaping the peace deal announced by Trump. Huckabee, a Trump/Netanyahu loyalist who has been scathing in public before about the Labour government’s foreign policy, said:
I assure you she’s delusional. She can thank @realDonaldTrump anytime just to set the record straight.
The Witkoff tweet read like an White House-sanctioned mini rebuke, and a reassurance to London that the ambassador was not speaking on behalf of the administration.
But Witkoff’s decision to also go public with lavish praise for Powell also implies that he is trying to be helpful to the UK national security adviser when he is under intense pressure because the opposition parties are blaming him for the collapse of the China spy trial. Here is Peter Walker’s overnight story on this.
Powell is under increasing pressure because, with recess over, MPs can now use all the parliamentary levers available to them to demand a fuller explanation from ministers as to what happened. They can table urgent questions, or even use the SO24 (standing order 24) procedure to demand an emergency debate. Lindsay Hoyle, the Speaker, was furious about the decision to drop the spying prosecution (because it involved allegations of spying happening within parliament) and he is likely to be sympathetic to requests for UQs or emergency debates. When ministers know that a UQ is likely to be granted, they often decide to make a formal ministerial statement instead.
This is what Hamish Falconer, the Middle East minister, implied would happen in a Today programme interview this morning. Asked if the public would get a proper explanation in parliament as to why the spy trial collapsed, he replied:
I will not get ahead of the Speaker on what is tabled in parliament, but I would expect that parliament will discuss this later.
Falconer was referring to the fact that the Speaker’s Office only formally announces what statements and UQs are being allowed at about 1pm on a Monday.
Powell is being blamed for the collapse of the trial because it is alleged he refused to agree to the government giving the prosecution a statement saying China is a threat to national security, and that without this the prosecution could not make this case. It is alleged Powell held back to avoid antagonising the Chinese government.
Ministers say the decision to drop the case was taken by the Crown Prosecution Service, not the government, and that they were constrained by what official government policy was at the time the alleged offences were committed – when the Conservatives were in power.
In his Today interview Falconer offered a slightly new version of this argument, saying the Official Secrets Act should be been updated sooner. He said:
There was a case taken about alleged offences under the Official Secrets Act, which is a rather archaic piece of legislation … which was written in 1911.
The case, unfortunately, involves a period before successor legislation was put in place in 2023 [the National Security Act].
So the CPS, who do these things, rightly, independently from government, were trying to put together a case based on evidence from both a period where the Official Secrets Act, rather than National Security Act was the legislation in place, and it was this Conservative government, rather than the Labour government, who were in place.
Here is the agenda for the day.
Morning: Kemi Badenoch is visiting Grantham to mark the 100th anniversary of the day Margaret Thatcher was born.
10.30am: Kate Forbes, Scotland’s deputy first minister, opens the final day of the SNP’s conference in Aberdeen. John Swinney, the first minister, winds up the conference with a speech at 3.05pm.
11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
12.30pm (UK time): Keir Starmer is due to meet President Trump at the Middle East peace summit in Sharm el-Sheikh that Trump is co-chairing with the Egyptian president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
2.30pm: Steve Reed, the housing secretary, takes questions in the Commons.
After 3.30pm: There are likely to be several urgent questions and ministerial statements, including one on the collapse of the China spy trial.
If you want to contact me, please post a message below the line when comments are open (normally between 10am and 3pm BST at the moment), or message me on social media. I can’t read all the messages BTL, but if you put “Andrew” in a message aimed at me, I am more likely to see it because I search for posts containing that word.
If you want to flag something up urgently, it is best to use social media. You can reach me on Bluesky at @andrewsparrowgdn.bsky.social. The Guardian has given up posting from its official accounts on X, but individual Guardian journalists are there, I still have my account, and if you message me there at @AndrewSparrow, I will see it and respond if necessary.
I find it very helpful when readers point out mistakes, even minor typos. No error is too small to correct. And I find your questions very interesting too. I can’t promise to reply to them all, but I will try to reply to as many as I can, either BTL or sometimes in the blog.
Share
Updated at 11.22 CEST
