LONDON: Britain’s MI5 spy chief said on Thursday he was frustrated by the collapse of a China spying case which has led to intense scrutiny of whether the government was to blame, saying Chinese operatives posed a daily national security threat.
Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service unexpectedly dropped charges last month against two British men, former parliamentary researcher Christopher Cash and academic Christopher Berry, who were accused of spying for Beijing between 2021 and 2023.
They had denied passing politically sensitive information to the Chinese state, while Beijing said the case was entirely fabricated.
The CPS said the case was abandoned because it needed evidence showing Britain considered China a threat to national security, but the government had not provided it after months of requests.
Opponents say that decision was because Prime Minister Keir Starmer wanted to appease Beijing. He has denied that accusation, saying his government could only describe China in the terms used by the previous Conservative government which called it an “epoch-defining challenge”.
“Of course, I am frustrated when opportunities to prosecute national security threatening activity are not followed through for whatever reason,” MI5 Director General Ken McCallum told reporters after delivering his annual speech on the threats to Britain.
“It’s frustrating when they don’t happen, but I would invite everyone to just not miss the fact that this was a strong disruption in the interests of the UK’s national security,” said McCallum, who stated MI5 had “intervened operationally” against China in the last week, without giving details.
Published in Dawn, October 17th, 2025