An odd article about a UK Labour MP, Joani Reid, wife of a man arrested on suspicion of spying for China, focuses on her denials of any sympathy for the Chinese Communist Party and of any knowledge of illegal activities by her husband (The Times [UK], March 4, 2026).
Reid (shown above with arrestee David Taylor) says that she has never been to China, never spoken in the Commons about China, never asked a question in the Commons about China, believes in freedom of expression, and is not an apologist for the Chinese Communist Party. It would be interesting to know why she felt obliged to toss in that she is a proponent of freedom of expression; The Times doesn’t say.
Her husband, David Taylor, a lobbyist, was arrested “on suspicion of assisting a foreign state” or “on suspicion of assisting a foreign intelligence service.” The reporters must mean the foreign intelligence service of China, since that is the country with which Reid stresses she is entirely unassociated and about which she has never said a word in the Commons.
The reporters do not indicate how Taylor may have helped Chinese intelligence. I suppose we should be grateful for one implication of their report, that the Labour government—despite its perverse determination last year to scrap an impending trial of Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry, accused of spying for China—is still on the lookout for spies for China and even willing to arrest them.
Another Times article published on March 4 says that three men “linked to the Labour Party have been arrested on suspicion of spying for China, including the husband of a sitting MP.” In this article too, Reid is quoted as saying that she has “never seen anything to make me suspect my husband has broken any law,” never been to China, never spoken on China in the Commons, never asked a question about matters pertaining to China. I almost believe that she never even heard of China before.
Hold to account
UK security minister Dan Jarvis says that “if there is proven evidence of attempts by China to interfere with UK sovereign affairs, we will impose severe consequences and hold all actors involved to account.” Which would be refreshing. Again, though, no hint of how David Taylor and the others may have served Chinese intelligence.
The Times adds that the arrests “will be seen as embarrassing for Sir Keir Starmer, who has been attempting to rebuild relations with China. Ministers recently approved plans for a controversial Chinese ‘mega-embassy’ in London despite espionage concerns, and in January Starmer became the first British prime minister to visit China since 2018.”
Starmer, though, has demonstrated an almost unlimited capacity to endure embarrassment.
