Lawyer accused of being Chinese spy loses legal case against MI5

A lawyer accused of working for the Chinese government by MI5 has lost her legal challenge against the intelligence agency.

The Security Service warned MPs in January 2022 that it believed Christine Lee had engaged in “political interference and activities” for a branch of the Chinese Communist Party, a day after then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson apologised to MPs over the Partygate scandal.

Ms Lee said she believed the interference alert issued about her was for a “political purpose, namely to serve the interests of the Conservative party” and brought legal action, along with her son Daniel Wilkes, against the Security Service.

But in a judgment on Tuesday, three judges at the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) unanimously dismissed both claims.

Lord Justice Singh, sitting with Lord Boyd and Judge Rupert Jones, said MI5 had issued the warning for “legitimate reasons”.

At a hearing in June, the tribunal heard Ms Lee “categorically” denies the allegations against her, with her lawyers telling judges that issuing the notice was unlawful.

In the 41-page ruling, Lord Justice Singh dismissed their challenges, including on human rights grounds.

He said: “It has not been suggested in the present case that the claimants were subjected to torture. What is suggested is that they were subjected to inhumane or degrading treatment.”

“We are not satisfied that it reached the minimum threshold required for a breach.”

The judge said that the warning from MI5, known as an interference alert, was “preventative”, adding that there had not been an “authoritative finding” that Ms Lee had been engaged in criminal activity or other misconduct.

Lord Justice Singh concluded: “We have reached the conclusion that the interference alert was issued in accordance with domestic law…The national security risk posed by Ms Lee was rationally assessed and the issue of the interference alert falls within the national security functions of the Security Service.”

The alert came after Ms Lee donated £500,000 to Labour MP Barry Gardiner, who was chairman of the now-disbanded Chinese In Britain All-Party Parliamentary Group on which she sat.

Analysis of the Register of Members’ Financial Interests showed Lee donated more than £500,000 to Mr Gardiner and Labour between 2015 and 2020, mostly through funding for Mr Gardiner’s staff.

Mr Gardiner, the MP for Brent West, told the BBC’s Politics Live he had ceased all contact with Ms Lee because of the security services’ alert, but said he had “been a friend of hers for many, many years”.

He insisted money he had received from her had been for the “public good in my office” – and that none of it had come from an illegal source, according to MI5.

The Security Service said the money was provided by foreign nationals and “undertaken in covert co-ordination” with the United Front Work Department (UFWD), a branch of the CCP.

Ms Lee, who set up an immigration consultancy firm in 1994, said she lobbied MPs on behalf of British Chinese nationals and to build trade links but that any donations to MPs were recorded and passed parliamentary vetting requirements.

Conservative grandee Sir Iain Duncan Smith said the Government has questions to answer about whether Ms Lee should remain in the UK after she lost her legal challenge against the intelligence services.

Sir Iain, a China-sceptic senior Tory, told the PA news agency: “My question would be more to the Government. What are the intelligence services going to do now?

“Either they think that she remains a threat, in which case she shouldn’t be here, or if she is not, then they should be clear about that.”

The IPT’s judgment comes a day after an alleged Chinese spy with close links to the Duke of York was named when a High Court judge lifted his anonymity.

Yang Tengbo, who denies wrongdoing, was named on Monday as the individual who has been banned from the UK, and is said to have been a “close” confidant of Andrew.

In a statement released on Tuesday, a Chinese embassy spokesperson said that “anti-China clamours made by a handful of UK MPs” have “revealed their twisted mentality towards China” and accused them of trying to “smear China” and “undermine normal personnel exchanges between China and the UK”.

The statement added: “We urge the UK side to immediately stop creating trouble, stop anti-China political manipulations, and stop undermining normal personnel exchanges between China and the UK.”