British lawmakers failed to act on advice to tighten security laws that could have prevented an alleged Chinese spy from targeting Britain’s Prince Andrew, a former attorney general has said.
Dominic Grieve, a former lawmaker who chaired the British Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) until 2019, said ministers were advised five years ago to introduce laws to criminalize foreign agents, but failed to do so.
Similar laws exist in the US and Australia.
Photo: Reuters
“We remain without an important weapon in our armory,” Grieve said. “We asked for [this law] in the context of the Russia inquiry report” — which accused the government of failing to investigate Russian interference in British politics — “and in my view we badly need it. This reinforces the need to do it.”
In a court ruling on Thursday, it was disclosed that a businessman, known only as H6, had been banned from the UK on national security grounds because British authorities suspected he was working clandestinely for Beijing to forge close contacts with prominent British figures.
Court papers revealed that H6, accused of being a Chinese spy, had become “a close confidant” of the Duke of York, Prince Andrew.
The Daily Telegraph reported that the British intelligence agency MI5 was investigating Chinese money given to Andrew, while the Times said the prince had invited the businessman to the royal properties Buckingham Palace, St James’ Palace and Windsor Castle.
The Mirror reported that King Charles had been briefed by MI5 and was “truly exasperated” by the situation.
In 2019, the ISC recommended that lawmakers make it a criminal offense to act as an agent of a foreign power without disclosing that fact. If parliament had adopted the new law, foreign agents could be arrested.
“If you are operating in the US and masquerading as a businessman but in fact you are on the payroll of the Chinese state and you don’t divulge that, then you can prosecute that person for being an undisclosed agent of a foreign power,” Grieve said.
In February last year, H6 was prevented from flying from Beijing to London and the following month, then-British Home Secretary Suella Braverman barred him from the UK because his presence was not conducive to the public good.
H6 appealed to the UK’s Special Immigration Appeals Commission, which earlier this month rejected his claim. The judgement found that H6 had “attempted to conceal or downplay” his links to China’s United Front Work Department, which gathers intelligence for the Chinese Communist party.
An ISC report released last year said that Chinese intelligence services had been collecting vast amounts of information and targeting people in every level of politics and public life, particularly those it saw as being more susceptible because they had lost power or influence.
Andrew stepped back from his royal duties in November 2019 after a public backlash when he attempted to defend his friendship with accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein in a BBC Newsnight interview. His only income now is reportedly a ￡20,000-a-year (US$25,247) Royal Navy pension.
That made him vulnerable to such approaches, said author Andrew Lownie, who is writing a biography about Andrew and his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York.
“I fear several royals have been compromised by the Chinese,” Lownie said. “He’s not the only one.”
The Sunday Times has reported that the alleged Chinese spy had also met with former British prime ministers David Cameron and Theresa May on separate occasions.
On Friday, Andrew said he had “ceased all contact” with the businessman when concerns were first raised about him, while a statement from his office said Andrew met the individual through “official channels” with “nothing of a sensitive nature ever discussed.”
The Chinese embassy in London described the H6 case as another attempt to smear China and sabotage normal working relationships.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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