Rishi Sunak was the only politician to be sent a witness statement by the deputy national security adviser at the centre of the collapsed China spy case, according to letters published by a parliamentary committee.
The statement from Matthew Collins, sent to the then prime minister and his advisers in December 2023, did not describe China as an enemy, as this had been removed from an earlier draft because it did not reflect government policy.
The case against Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry was dropped in September after prosecutors concluded that a conviction under the Official Secrets Act was not realistic without government evidence that China posed a threat to UK national security.
The letters, sent to the joint committee on the national security strategy, set out that once the formal prosecution process began, no politicians were involved, meaning only Sunak received Collins's statement. However, a source close to Sunak said there was no record of it being placed in his prime ministerial box.
The director of public prosecutions, Stephen Parkinson, explained that Collins would not describe China as an 'active threat to national security' because this was not government policy, and his characterisation as an 'active espionage threat' was insufficient for a conviction.
The attorney general, Richard Hermer, said he played no role in the case beyond receiving an update.
