The United Kingdom government of Prime Minister Keir Starmer has allowed two suspected Chinese intelligence agents to escape punishment by refusing to identify China as an enemy.
Espionage charges against two Britons, Christopher Cash (aged 30) and Christopher Berry (aged 33), were dropped last month following a failure by Starmer’s government to identify China as a threat to national security when the two men’s offenses were said to have been committed between December 2021 and February 2023. Numerous U.S. and U.K. sources have told the Washington Examiner that there is highly compelling evidence to suggest that Cash and Berry operated as a clandestine cell designed to procure and then transmit sensitive U.K. government information to Beijing.
Starmer insists that it was not his government’s responsibility to provide evidence to show that China was a threat when the offenses occurred. Instead, he says prosecutors had to show how the former Conservative government viewed China at the time of the offenses.
This is a very flimsy excuse from the former chief prosecutor turned prime minister.
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What the prosecutors really needed was a clear statement by a senior government official that China did indeed threaten U.K. national security during the period of the offenses. As Britain’s chief prosecutor Stephen Parkinson notes, “Efforts to obtain that evidence were made over many months, but notwithstanding the fact that further witness statements were provided, none of these stated that at the time of the offence China represented a threat to national security.” Parkinson was blunt. When it came to the evidence his prosecutors needed from Starmer’s government in order to secure a conviction, that evidence was “not forthcoming.”
In short, Starmer and his officials repeatedly refused to provide either testimony or specific intelligence reporting — of which there is a vast abundance — to clarify that China did indeed threaten U.K. national security between December 2021 and February 2023. And while it’s true that the previous Conservative government did not explicitly identify China as an enemy, Starmer knows full well that he could have authorized the release of government testimony or classified documents to show that China was acting as a serious national security threat during the period of the offenses. It’s clear why Starmer was unwilling to do so.
It’s the Chinese Communist gold, stupid.
Reflecting its focus on securing bolstered Chinese investments to the U.K. economy, Starmer’s premiership has seen the muzzle put on officials who identify China for the threat it most plainly is. This includes the head of the U.K.’s MI5 domestic intelligence and security service. In July 2022, Ken McCallum spoke in great detail on the threats that China posed to the U.K. across areas, including cyberspace, human intelligence operations, and political and business influence peddling. But as the Washington Examiner reported shortly after Starmer took office, McCallum started adopting far more cautious rhetoric toward Beijing. Why the shift?
Because Starmer has decided to prioritize economic engagement with China over broader national security concerns. The prime minister knows full well from his intelligence briefings about the vast scale, ambition, and aggression of the Chinese intelligence services in targeting U.K. interests. But he also knows that from President Xi Jinping on down, Chinese officials are deeply sensitive to any public presentation of China as a threat. Starmer and top officials such as Chancellor Rachel Reeves and foreign secretary Yvette Cooper know that avoiding such uncomfortable matters will earn Beijing’s favor. And, they hope, Xi’s increased appetite to invest more money in the U.K.
Indeed, due to the U.S.-U.K. special relationship, Chinese officials are particularly enamored by any public signal from the U.K. that is adopting a more dovish policy toward China than that of the Trump administration. It’s also clear that Starmer wants to avoid Washington’s attention in this regard.
Consider U.K. national security adviser Jonathan Powell’s visit with Chinese foreign policy chief Wang Yi in Beijing in July. Not wanting to draw attention to its kowtowing, Starmer’s government didn’t publicize this meeting. Xi did. A Chinese readout said that under Starmer and Xi’s direction, the two countries had embraced “a path of improvement and development” in their relations. China went on to state its “appreciation of Britain’s proposal to develop a consistent, lasting and mutually respectful relationship between the two countries.” And Beijing claimed that “Powell expressed Britain’s willingness to enhance dialogue and communication with China to build a stable, practical and long-term partnership.”
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While this might sound like irrelevant diplomatic jargon, Starmer’s China policy trajectory poses real concern for U.K. security interests and for the U.S.-U.K. special relationship. After all, by allowing a key espionage trial to fail in order simply to curry China’s economic favor, Starmer strongly suggests to Beijing that his commitment to U.K. national security is malleable. And if his commitment to U.K. security is malleable, there can be little doubt that Starmer’s commitment to U.S. national security is even more flexible.
Amid Xi’s now daily assaults on the boats and exclusive economic zone of the Philippines (a U.S. treaty defense ally), his rising ambition to conquer Taiwan by 2030, and his global campaign to displace the United States as the world’s superpower, the last thing the U.S. needs is for its closest ally to be kowtowing to Beijing. But that’s exactly what Starmer seems set upon doing.
, 2025-10-08 20:13:00, 
, Washington Examiner, %%https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/cropped-favicon.png?w=32, https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/feed/, Tom Rogan
