Cabinet officials failed to act to tighten security laws that could have prevented a Chinese spy from targeting Prince Andrewsaid the general manager earlier.
Dominic Grieve, a former Tory MP who chaired the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) until 2019, said ministers were warned five years ago to introduce laws on foreign criminal agencies but failed to do so. Similar laws already exist in the US and Australia.
“We remain without a great weapon in our arsenal,” Lugete said. “We asked” [this law] However, in the context of his speech Russia research report” – which accused the government of not seeking Russian interference in British politics – “and, in my opinion, we did very badly. It’s encouraging to do this work.”
On December 13, court records revealed that the accused Chinese spy businessman had become “a close confidante of the Duke of York”, Prince Andrew. It came out that Andrew had invited to Buckingham Palace.
In 2019, the ISC officials recommended that it be a criminal offense to act as an agent of a foreign power without declaring the fact. If parliament had adopted a new law, foreign agents could be arrested.
“If you’re working in the US and masquerading as a businessman, you’re actually on the payroll of the Chinese state and don’t disclose it, then you can prosecute that person for being an agent of a foreign power.” He said to be sorry Notice.
In February 2023, the man, listed as H6 in court documents, was prevented by Beijing from fleeing to London and in March 2023, Suella Braverman, then the home secretary, accused him in the UK that his presence did not work. public good
H6 appealed to the Special Immigration Commission which they rejected right last week. The court found that H6 “attempted to conceal or play down” his ties to the United States Department of Labor, which collects intelligence for the Chinese Communist Party.
A 2023 ISC report said that the Chinese intelligence services have been collecting massive amounts of information and working hard on people in all political and public life, especially those that seem to be more susceptible because they have lost power or influence.
Prince Andrews stepped back from his royal duties in November 2019 after a public backlash when he tried to defend his friendship with pedophile Jeffery Epstein on the BBC Newsnight conversation His only income is now reported to be a £20,000-a-year Royal Navy pension.
This makes him vulnerable to such approaches, according to author Andrew Lownie, who is writing a biography of Andrew and Sarah Ferguson’s wife, the Duchess of York.
“I fear that many of the royals are suspected by the Chinese,” said Lownie. “He’s not the only one.”
The Duke of York’s involvement with the alleged Chinese spy came earlier this month after Keir Starmer, the prime minister, said the UK needed a “strong UK-China” relationship after Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, arrived at the G20 summit.
Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, is due to visit Beijing in January for trade negotiations, shortly before Donald Trump becomes US president again and is likely to impose tariffs on Chinese imports.
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When he was UK special representative for international trade and investment between 2001 and 2011, Andreas the financier David Rowland, with whom he had business, made official trips and put the services of a businessman to the most noble ideas.
The Sunday Times He said he had a Chinese spy even with prime ministers David Cameron and Theresa Mayat different times.
Lownie said that he was determined to carry out research for his new book, even if the documents detailing who accompanied Andrew on official trips, for example, were available 20 years later under public records.
He said: “For too long the royal funds have been shrouded in secrecy. It is clear from the various scandals surrounding not only Andrea, but others from the royal family that the police themselves cannot be trusted.
“It is time that the exemptions that have been removed in the Freedom of Information Act, that royal wills are published and good registers are established.
“We also need some research into the ‘decade of Andrew’, his special deputy, the use of pitch@Palace … and exactly how he provided for his luxurious life for 20 years, if confidence in the monarchy continues.”
On Friday, Andreas said he had “ceased all contact” with the businessman after first raising concerns about him. In a statement from his office, Andreas said the details were passed through “official channels”, while “nothing of a sensitive nature was ever discussed”.