Chinese spy suspect infiltrates parliament

As if there wasn’t enough drama in parliament today. Peers and MPs have just been warned that a suspected agent working for the Chinese government has been trying to infiltrate the Palace of Westminster, in a plot that wouldn’t seem out of place in a James Bond film. Talk about The Spy Who Loved Xi.

MI5 has now released a security threat warning of a specific spying threat targeted by Labour donor Christine Lee. She has been a long-time funder of Labour MP Barry Gardiner’s office through her law firm Christine Lee & Co, which also works for the Chinese Embassy in London. Donations began in September 2015, soon after Gardiner joined Jeremy Corbyn’s frontbench. They included £182,284 to pay the wages of two of Mr Gardiner’s Westminster aides — one of whom is Christine Lee’s son, Daniel Wilkes. Whoops!

The Interference Alert issued by MI5 said Lee had been ‘engaged in political interference activities on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party, engaging with Members here at Parliament and associated political entities.’