The words may be falling on deaf ears. But a few U.S. officials are giving it the old college try, warning the current leaders of the United Kingdom, Starmer and friends, that it’s self-destructive to permit the People’s Republic of China and accomplices within the UK to spy at will (The Times [UK], October 11, 2025).
That the spying is no problem is what Prime Minister Keir Starmer signaled when his administration ordered prosecutors in the recent spying-for-China case to stand down.
Starmer (shown above, left) accuses the previous administration of having failed to call the PRC an enemy, which “therefore” means that the spies spying for the PRC during the later days of that prior administration could not have violated any law against spying for enemy countries. Or something. The official story has shifted somewhat somewhat over time. But there is no danger that it will evolve into a rationale for refusing to take the case to trial that makes sense.
The quality of the evidence is not the stumbling block. The Starmer administration’s determination to appease China is the stumbling block.
U.S. officials respond
An unnamed senior Trump administration official says: “The United States has been warning allies about the Chinese threat to our combined national security since President Trump first came into office in 2017. The US government exercises extreme caution in sharing information with foreign governments subject to adversarial coercion and influence. We are especially careful in jurisdictions where our adversaries can act with impunity.”
The U.S. official evidently uttered these circumspect generalities about allies and foreign governments with the UK in mind.
Congressman John Moolenaar, chairman of the U.S. House Select Committee on the CCP, says that “it is my hope that the UK government will not allow this case to falter and will take the steps necessary to ensure a clear message is sent and proper justice is served.”
He’s late, though. The train has sailed. The case against Cash and Berry has been dismissed. The case has already “faltered,” i.e., been atom-bombed by the Starmer government. If there is a way to somehow glue the pieces back together, Starmer is not the man to do it.
The Times also tells us that “A cabinet minister told allies that the spying case had to be dropped to appease China, otherwise there would be no further investment”; that “Jonathan Powell, the UK’s national security adviser, continued to face criticism for his perceived role in the collapse of the case”; that sources in the Starmer administration “claimed that Powell had pushed through the Chagos Islands deal, which involves the UK ceding the territory to China’s ally, Mauritius”; that Powell is “listed as a fellow on the website of the 48 Group Club, a networking organisation whose stated mission is to ‘connect China to the world’ and had close links with the Chinese Communist Party.”
Okay, but whom does Jonathan Powell work for?
Tied hands
Another British paper, the Daily Mail, reports that one of the accused, Christopher Cash, “received high-level briefings from former MI6 spies, ambassadors and ministers, gaining extraordinary intelligence on China-related policies before he was dramatically arrested on suspicion of passing on secrets….
“But the case against him and an English teacher friend collapsed last month when the Government refused to class Beijing as a threat to national security. Keir Starmer has claimed his hands were tied, blaming the previous Tory administration for not designating China an adversary at the time of the alleged offences.”
If you tie your own hands and then claim that “my hands are tied,” you are leaving out a vital piece of information.
A green light to spy
The previous, Tory government described Red China as an enemy. The current, Labour government has, disingenuously, described Red China as an enemy. Even if neither administration had ever used that word, “enemy,” the People’s Republic of China would still be an enemy of the United Kingdom. There is no there there, no issue.
Couldn’t these guys at least be honest as they surrender to the totalitarian dictatorship? “We had to drop the case, because we’ve got to appease the People’s Republic of China, because, well, we’ve got to….”
“Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp told the Daily Mail: ‘The Labour Government themselves are describing China as an enemy, and yet at the same time refusing to hand over to the Crown Prosecution Service documents from 2021 to 2023 that demonstrate the threat China posed. By refusing to do this, they’ve caused an espionage prosecution to collapse, undermining our national security and giving a green light to China to spy on the UK.’ ”
