Minister: MP Candidates Dropped After MI5 Chinese Spy Warning

Two contenders reportedly had links to the United Front Work Department, which is behind most, if not all, of the Chinese Communist Party’s influence campaigns.

Undated handout photo issued UK Parliament of Conservative MP Maria Caulfield. Chris McAndrew/UK Parliament via PA

The Conservative Party took “swift action” and dropped potential candidates whom MI5 suspected to be Chinese spies, a minister said.

Health and women minister Maria Caulfield made the remarks on Thursday after a report said the Security Service warned the party about two potential candidates in 2021 and 2022.

According to The Times of London, MI5 advised that the two individuals had links to the United Front Work Department (UFWD), which is a department of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Committee responsible for gaining political influence in and outside of China.

Citing an unnamed source, the report said it had been “made very clear” that the potential candidates posed a risk, and they had subsequently been blocked without being told of the reason.

In a statement emailed to The Epoch Times, a spokesman said, “When we receive credible information regarding security concerns over potential candidates we act upon them.”

Ms. Caulfield said any ruling party would be a target for influence and espionage.

“I think whichever party is in government, there will always be those who are trying to target it, either to get information or to influence,” she told Times Radio.

“The story that we have heard about today about the candidates who the Conservative Party were warned about, swift action was taken and they were removed from the list. They are not standing for election.”

The minister said the report shows that the Tories “will take that very seriously, the same with the researcher in Parliament,” referring to a parliamentary researcher arrested in March over suspicions that he may have been spying and influencing for the Chinese regime.

“It does show that there are other nations always wanting to infiltrate government of all parties. But we have shown that we take that seriously and act swiftly when that intelligence comes forward,” she said.

The revelation came just days after it emerged that the Metropolitan Police arrested two people, including a parliamentary researcher who was firmly embedded in the China-skeptic circle of lawmakers, over spying suspicions and searched their home.

The two men in their twenties and thirties, who have not been officially identified, were released on bail until a date in October.

The Times of London said the parliamentary researcher was connected to senior Tories, including Alicia Kearns, the chairwoman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, and her predecessor Tom Tugendhat before he became the security minister.

The report also said the man had worked with MPs for a number of years on foreign policy “including relations with Beijing.”

He has denied the accusations against him, saying he’s “completely innocent” in a statement issued via his lawyers.

Detail of an MI5 Security Service Interference Alert (SSIA) identifying Christine Lee as "an agent of the Chinese government” operating in the British Parliament, issued by the Office of the Speaker of the House of Commons on Jan. 12, 2022 House of Commons/PA

Last year, MI5 issued an alert to Parliament about Christine Ching Kui Lee, who the spy agency said had allegedly “acted covertly in co-ordination with the UFWD and is judged to be involved in political interference activities in the UK.”

MI5 said Ms. Lee had been “engaged in the facilitation of financial donations to political parties, parliamentarians, aspiring parliamentarians and individuals seeking political office in the UK, including facilitating donations to political entities on behalf of foreign nationals.”

It revealed that Ms. Lee has “extensive engagement with individuals across the UK political spectrum,” including through the All-Party Parliamentary Chinese in Britain Group, which had been disbanded.

Barry Gardiner, a Labour MP who received donations of more than £500,000 ($687,000) from her between 2015 and 2020, said he had been “liaising with our security services” for many years about her.

MI5 Director-General Ken McCallum later said no legal action could have been taken in many cases because the UK’s archaic law didn’t criminalise being a covert agent of a foreign power.

As part of the National Security Act 2023, foreign agents will be required to register their activities under a foreign influence registration scheme that’s expected to be ready next year.

According to the U.S.-China Economic And Security Review Commission, the CCP’s UFWD seeks to “co-opt ethnic Chinese individuals and communities living outside China, while a number of other key affiliated organizations guided by China’s broader United Front strategy conduct influence operations targeting foreign actors and states.”

A report published last year by foreign policy and national security think tank Henry Jackson Society said most of the Confucius Institutes in the UK had been engaging in activities beyond their remit of “language and culture,” including cooperating with UK organisations that work with the UFWD.

An individual connected to one of China’s unofficial “overseas police service stations” in London was also found to be connected to the UFWD and having wined and dined with two former British prime ministers.

Alexander Zhang contributed to this report.