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MI5 has warned UK MPs that China’s intelligence services are targeting people who work in parliament, in the aftermath of the spectacular collapse of a case against two Britons accused of spying for Beijing.
Sir Lindsay Hoyle, Speaker of the House of Commons, told MPs that Britain’s domestic intelligence agency had identified that China’s Ministry of State Security was approaching individuals in parliament and attempting to “collect information and lay the groundwork for long-term relationships”.
Beijing was “using professional networking sites, recruitment agents and consultants”, Hoyle said in a letter on Tuesday accompanying the alert from MI5. “It is of the utmost importance that we all understand how this activity happens and how to protect ourselves against it.”
The Ministry of State Security (MSS) officers in question targeted political and economic information, “particularly of a classified or non-public sensitive nature”, according to the MI5 alert.
“The MSS offer large financial incentives for seemingly low-level information in an attempt to build a relationship and encourage the target to gain access to more non-public sensitive information,” the alert said.
MI5 added: “Parliament staff, economists, think-tank employees, geopolitical consultants and those working alongside [His Majesty’s Government] have been targeted for their network, including MPs and members of the House of Lords.”
The espionage alert follows the collapse of the case against the UK nationals accused of spying for China. The case’s failure sparked a crisis for Sir Keir Starmer’s government after prosecutors blamed it for refusing to call China an “enemy” in evidence.
One of the men had previously worked as a parliamentary researcher. Both had denied the charges.
Hoyle, in his letter, alerted MPs to the names of two alleged headhunters who were “known to be using LinkedIn profiles to conduct outreach at scale on behalf of” the MSS.
“MI5 has issued this alert because the activity is targeted and widespread,” he wrote, urging parliamentarians to read new guidance developed by the parliamentary security department on using professional networking sites.
In a statement in the House of Commons on Tuesday, security minister Dan Jarvis said the activity flagged by MI5 involved “a covert and calculated attempt by a foreign power to interfere in our sovereign affairs in favour of its own interests, and this government will not stand for it”.
The government was setting out a number of measures to “disrupt and deter” the threats posed by China and other state actors, including launching a political interference and espionage action plan, he added.
The measures would entail strengthening legislative tools and new powers to counter foreign interference, Jarvis said, noting that foreign secretary Yvette Cooper had told her Chinese counterpart this month that “any activity that threatens UK national security . . . will not be tolerated”.
Responding to Jarvis, Alicia Kearns, Conservative shadow security minister, called for China to be placed in the enhanced tier of the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme, and for ministers to cancel planned trips to the country.
“What message does it send when, despite an attack on this House, our parliament, ministers are happily jetting off to stride down red carpets with the government responsible?” she said.
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which handles requests from the overseas press on behalf of the government, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The MI5 alert said MSS targets would typically be initially approached to work as freelance consultants writing geopolitical reports.
“Officers use false personas on websites such as LinkedIn, which they use to spot and approach targets,” it said. “From the start officers are particularly interested in ‘non-public’ and ‘insider’ insights as well as in understanding networks, to identify potential sources of information.”
The alert warned the officers might use job interviews to assess a target’s suitability.
“A target will then be commissioned to write an initial report,” it said. “Following this a tasking relationship begins.”
Officers also used “legitimate and fake” companies to obfuscate their links to China’s intelligence services, MI5 added.
Additional reporting by Joe Leahy in Beijing