Christopher Money says he is ‘fully harmless’ and points assertion rebutting China spy claims made about him
Christopher Money, one of many two males accused of spying for China, however not prosecuted as a result of the CPS dropped the case, issued a prolonged assertion final evening following the publication of the three authorities witness statements supporting the case towards him.
He stated, once more, that he was “fully harmless” and that he had been put in an “not possible scenario” as a result of, along with his trial cancelled, he didn’t have the prospect to show his innocence to the general public.
He went on:
For the avoidance of any doubt, I routinely spoke and shared info with Christopher Berry about Chinese language and British politics. He was my good friend and these had been issues we had been each passionately taken with. I believed him to be as important of and anxious in regards to the Chinese language Communist Get together as I used to be. I believed him to be a supply of helpful info, as he lived in China. That info would have been used to the advantage of the UK. It was inconceivable to me that he would intentionally go on any info to Chinese language intelligence, even when that info was not delicate. Mr Berry instructed me that he was working for a strategic advisory firm in China, and that he was serving to purchasers commerce and spend money on the UK. A small quantity of the data I gave to him was supplied in that context. Nevertheless, this was all both info that was publicly accessible, info I used to be already inspired to share with journalists as a routine a part of my job or was simply political gossip that fashioned a part of the on a regular basis Westminster hearsay mill. I used to be totally open about my relationship with Mr Berry. I didn’t ever obtain cash for info which I supplied.
I can not emphasise my place strongly sufficient. I’ve misplaced a profession I cherished for an allegation towards me of which I’m totally harmless.
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Up to date at 04.40 EDT
Authorities to reply to Commons pressing query on China spy case witness statements at 10.30am
The Commons authorities have introduced that there will likely be an pressing query on the China spy case at 10.30am.
The Conservative MP Neil O’Brien has tabled the query, asking for a press release “on the three witness statements in relation to alleged breach of Official Secrets and techniques Act on behalf of China”. A minister will reply.
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Starmer and CPS face additional questions after China spy case paperwork fail to quell controversy
Good morning. Late final evening No 10 lastly launched the three witness statements written by Matthew Collins, the deputy nationwide safety adviser, for the Crown Prosecution Service to help its prosection of the 2 males alleged to have been spying on behalf of China.
The primary doc is right here. At 12 pages, it’s the longest, it was written in December 2023, and it units out intimately the case towards the 2 accused. Collins admits that not one of the materials handed on was “protectively marked” (ie, formally categorized as secret), and the doc makes it clear that the spying allegations (that the 2 accused have at all times denied) are usually not remotely within the Philby, Burgess and Maclean class. However Collins says their alleged actions had been “prejudicial to the security or pursuits of the UK”.
The second doc is right here. It’s dated February 2024, however apparently that may be a mistake and it was submitted in February this yr. It runs to 3 pages and it provides extra details about the Chinese language risk to the UK, and the identification of the senior CCP (Chinese language communist occasion) who was allegedly the last word recipient of the data.
And the ultimate assertion is right here. It was submitted in August this yr and it units out the federal government evaluation of the risk posed by China, largely quoting from experiences revealed by the final authorities (in energy when the alleged offences had been dedicated), however with a closing paragraph that units out the Labour authorities’s view on China. It describes the coverage utilizing language from Labour’s manifesto.
Ultimate paragraph from Matthew Collins’s closing witness assertion {Photograph}: No 10
The Labour manifesto stated: “We are going to co-operate the place we are able to, compete the place we have to, and problem the place we should.” In his assertion Collins has added “together with on problems with nationwide safety” to the “problem” clause on the finish.
The Tories are alleging that ministers and officers intentionally intervened to get the CPS to drop the prosecution – both by leaning on the CPS, or by withholding from them the proof they wanted. There isn’t a proof in any respect to assist the primary idea (Keir Starmer’s denial on this level at PMQs yesterday was forceful), and the federal government can also be dismissing the second idea too. It’s stated that Collins believed his witness statements had been robust sufficient to permit a prosecution to go forward.
However Kemi Badenoch has cited the ultimate paragraph of Collins’ closing witness assertion as proof that her claims are proper. In a press release, she stated:
Yesterday the prime minister insisted that the deputy nationwide safety adviser’s witness statements mirrored the final Conservative authorities’s coverage in direction of China.
Now we uncover {that a} witness assertion despatched underneath this Labour authorities included language describing the present authorities’s coverage in direction of China, which was instantly lifted from the Labour occasion manifesto. Did an official, adviser or minister counsel that this must be included?
The federal government’s story is falling aside underneath scrutiny, and the one factor that’s clear is that the prime minister knew the spy case was collapsing however didn’t act.
In fact, the witness statements revealed final evening elevate extra questions for the Crown Prosecution Service than they do for the federal government. Stephen Parkinson, the director of public prosecutions (ie, head of the CPS), met senior MPs final evening and, in accordance with a report by ITV’s Robert Peston, they weren’t satisfied by his declare that the federal government proof was “5% much less” than wanted to succeed in the proof threshold for the case to go forward. Peston says:
I’m instructed that the director of public prosecutions Stephen Parkinson has simply instructed a few of parliament’s most senior MPs – chairs of dwelling, justice, international and safety committees – that the proof supplied by the federal government’s witness within the China spy case, the deputy nationwide safety adviser, was “5% lower than the proof threshold that was wanted.”
Parkinson instructed the MPs that the deputy nationwide safety adviser, Matthew Collins, had made it clear to the Crown Prosecution Service he was not going to offer the extra 5%. Which is why Parkinson canned the case. And as I stated earlier, he knowledgeable the Lawyer Normal Hermer of his choice to kibosh the prosecution.
The MPs had been stunned by what Parkinson instructed them, to place it mildly. They requested why Parkinson didn’t get a second knowledgeable witness, to fill within the small hole left by Collins. The DPP in essence stated that isn’t the way in which the CPS operates.
Final evening Dominic Grieve, who was a Conservative lawyer normal underneath David Cameron however who has now left the Tories (over Brexit) and who has no curiosity serving to Badenoch’s Labour-bashing over this, instructed Radio 4’s The World Tonight that, having learn the witness statements, he was “mystified” why the prosecution didn’t go forward. He stated:
I’m a bit mystified, having learn the statements, as to what the difficulty [that blocked the prosecution] really is.
Though the primary assertion dwelt notably on what it was alleged the 2 people had executed, the later ones did set out fairly totally what I recollect was the then authorities’s place on China – ‘epoch-defining and systemic problem, with implications for nearly each space of presidency coverage and the lives of the British folks’.
So it didn’t mince phrases in regards to the Chinese language risk. It goes into appreciable element about how that risk had manifested itself.
Additionally it is proper, nevertheless, that nowhere does it say a risk to our nationwide safety. It says a risk to our safety of 1 level, however to not our nationwide safety.
And that leaves me extraordinarily puzzled. I’m puzzled as to why, within the gentle of the case which additional outlined the phrase enemy, it was felt in these circumstances this prosecution couldn’t proceed … Whenever you learn the totality of those statements, you could possibly be left in completely little doubt that China was a risk to our nationwide safety.
There will likely be much more on this because the day goes on. Opposition MPs are more likely to push for an pressing query within the Commons.
Right here is the agenda for the day.
9.30am: Martin Hewitt, head of border management on the Residence Workplace, provides proof to the Commons dwelling affairs committee in regards to the work of Border Safety Command.
09.30am: Quarterly homelessness figures are revealed.
Morning: Keir Starmer is on a go to in London the place he’s more likely to communicate to the media.
Morning: Kemi Badenoch is on a go to in Chelmsford the place she is more likely to communicate to the media.
11am: Bridget Phillipson, the schooling secretary, provides a speech to Confederation of College Trusts convention.
11.30am: Downing Avenue holds a foyer briefing.
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Up to date at 04.33 EDT
