Keir Starmer‘s national security adviser could be hauled before MPs to answer questions about the collapse of the Chinese spying case.
Jonathan Powell is facing calls to appear before Parliament to explain why charges were dropped against two British men accused of passing secrets to Beijing.
Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Commons Speaker, previously warned that the decision gave a green light to hostile states and said he was considering bringing a private prosecution against the men.
Ministers have so far refused to explain what happened, prompting MPs to demand that Mr Powell, who is Tony Blair‘s former chief of staff, appear before Parliament.
Mr Powell could be held in contempt of Parliament if he refused to appear before the joint committee on national security strategy, according to a senior Commons source.
Prosecutors dropped the cases against Christopher Cash, 30, a former parliamentary researcher from London, and Christopher Berry, 33, an academic from Oxfordshire.
The pair were charged with spying under the Official Secrets Act by passing information to a high-ranking member of the Chinese government – allegations they deny.
Days before the charges were dropped, Mr Powell gathered senior Whitehall officials including Foreign Office permanent secretary Oliver Robbins to discuss the evidence, it was reported.
Jonathan Powell (pictured) is facing calls to appear before Parliament to explain why charges were dropped against two British men accused of passing secrets to Beijing
A meeting involving top Whitehall officials allegedly concluded that China would not be described as an ‘enemy’ (pictured: Chinese president Xi Jinping)
Mr Powell has previously been criticised for spearheading the Chagos Islands deal under which sovereignty of the territory is ceded to Mauritius. Pictured: aerial view of Diego Garcia
He told the top-secret meeting that China would not be deemed an ‘enemy’ of Britain at the trial, according to The Sunday Times.
Experts have said that, without such a classification, it would be impossible for the Crown Prosecution Service to bring a successful prosecution under the Official Secrets Act.
Mr Powell has previously been criticised for spearheading the Chagos Islands deal under which sovereignty of the territory is ceded to Mauritius.
The decision to discontinue the spying case was said to have come from ‘the very top’, according to witnesses, the paper added – something the Cabinet Office has rejected as ‘completely false’. Government sources said Mr Powell did not have a decision-making role.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said she was ‘very disappointed’ at the collapse of the case and denied there was any ministerial interference.
Asked if China was an enemy of the UK, she said: ‘A ‘challenge’, is, I think, the word that I would use.’
Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith accused No 10 of being a ‘threat to national security’.
‘We will push for a full debate in Parliament. This Government must be forced to come clean about whether it blocked justice to appease a hostile state,’ he told Times Radio.
Former Cabinet minister Gavin Williamson said: ‘There are real concerns here that the national security adviser seems to have interfered in a case and is not actually defending our democratic institutions’ (file image)
Parliamentary aide Christopher Cash, 30, (pictured arriving at court in April) and British teacher Christopher Berry, 33, were each charged with the offence of spying under the Official Secrets Act. They denied any wrongdoing
They were set to face trial this month, but proceedings against them were stopped on Monday, sparking criticism from Downing Street and MPs. Pictured: Christopher Berry (right)
Former Cabinet minister Gavin Williamson, who serves on the national security committee, said: ‘There are real concerns here that the national security adviser seems to have interfered in a case and is not actually defending our democratic institutions, but seems to have sided with and kowtowed to Chinese political and business pressure.
‘If this is the case, it is extraordinary and reflects poorly on him and the PM. If it is not, he needs to make clear that this is the case.’
Alicia Kearns, the shadow national security minister who previously worked with one of the accused, said it was ‘outrageous’ that Mr Powell had not appeared before MPs.
She added that he should have appeared ‘long ago’ to answer questions about the Chagos Islands.
Luke de Pulford, of the InterParliamentary Alliance on China, said there were ‘big questions to answer’, adding: ‘Powell has form – first Chagos, now this. What’s going on when the man in charge of national security is causing the collapse of the biggest espionage case that I can remember.
‘This is the kind of thing that you don’t sweep under the carpet just to please China.’
The Cabinet Office said: ‘The decision not to proceed with prosecution under the Official Secrets Act was made by the CPS independently of government. We do not recognise the meeting as described.’
