Christopher Cash, a former parliamentary researcher cleared of spying for China, has said he was a “convenient fall guy” for British police and security services. Prosecutors dropped charges against him and his former friend Chris Berry after deciding there was not enough evidence, prompting a political row.
Charges dropped over lack of evidence
Both men had maintained they had done nothing wrong. The Government blamed the collapse of the case on “out of date” UK spying laws, which have been updated since the period of alleged offending between 2021 and 2023.
The case depended on evidence from officials about the nature of the Chinese threat to Britain and whether it could be described as an “enemy” to meet the tests of the 1911 Official Secrets Act.
Cash's claims about the investigation
In an interview with the BBC, Mr Cash, who previously worked for the China Research Group, suggested he believes the case was pursued as a warning to others. “I understand that the police, the security services, want to put the China espionage or all state threats on the map but I became the convenient fall guy for everyone,” he said.
Mr Cash said authorities had wanted to put espionage threats by foreign states “on the map” after the Government warned that UK officials were being targeted across politics, defence and business.
Alleged meeting with Chinese official
Messages shared with the broadcaster appear to shed light on an alleged meeting between Mr Berry and a Chinese official who allegedly sought information about the 2022 Conservative leadership race. Mr Berry is said to have described in a voice note how the man he later identified as Cai Qi, an aide to Xi Jinping, asked via an interpreter “about the situation in the UK at the moment, about the Tory leadership thing”.
He allegedly said he jokingly tried to ask his host which candidate China wanted, but the interpreter did not translate his question and he was told it was time to go. Mr Berry also said he had been told that Beijing was concerned about how a UK MP it had sanctioned might be promoted to a cabinet role.
He is said to have claimed he went to the meeting in summer 2022 because he thought it would be “interesting” and “not really intending to do anything”. After receiving the voice notes, Mr Cash replied: “You, my friend, have just been elite captured” before adding: “You’re in spy territory now.” He claims this was a “tongue-in-cheek joke” because he knew his friend to be “a staunch critic of the Chinese Communist Party”.
Broader context and fallout
Mr Berry has since contested that he met with someone as senior as Mr Cai, the BBC reported. “I didn’t believe he was knowingly spying on the UK through me,” Mr Cash said. “I trusted my friend… I wish I had seen the danger earlier, spotted it and cut off all contact.”
Mr Berry is also alleged to have messaged Mr Cash that “off the record” he had it “on pretty good authority” that China was considering dropping sanctions against Tom Tugendhat, one of Parliament’s most outspoken critics of the CCP. The Chinese believed it would be “extremely embarrassing” if Mr Tugendhat, who at the time was seen as a possible contender for No 10 or the Foreign Office, became prime minister or foreign secretary while under Chinese sanctions, Mr Berry allegedly said.
Mr Tugendhat was ultimately appointed as security minister by Boris Johnson’s successor Liz Truss, and China lifted sanctions on him in January this year. The BBC reported there is no evidence in the messages that Mr Cash was paid by, or sympathetic to, the CCP. He claimed he was “unprofessional and naive” to send “gossiping” texts to his co-accused, whom he met in 2018 when they both taught English at a school in China. Asked why he kept sending information to Mr Berry even after the meeting, he said: “Because I didn’t think anything of the meeting, really.” Mr Cash said the pair are “no longer friends”. China has previously called the allegations of spying “pure fabrication and malicious slander”.
