Chinese spy has been working with MP in UK parliament to ‘subvert processes’, M15 warns

Ava Evans

A Chinese spy has been active in parliament

UK intelligence has warned members of parliament that a Chinese spy known as Christine Lee has been operating within Westminster.

The Chinese national has been accused of attempting to influence MPs across the political divide on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party.

A warning notice has been issues by the parliamentary speaker’s office on behalf of M15 telling MPs and peers to be aware that an agent for the Chinese government has been targeting politicians.

It is thought Lee has provided substantial donations to Labour MP Barry Gardiner since 2015. Until this morning, Lee’s son, Daniel Wilkes, worked as a parliamentary staffer in Gardiner’s office but has subsequently resigned.

According to The Sun, the memo states: “I am writing now to draw your attention to the attached Interference Alert issued by the Security Service, MI5, about the activities of an individual, Christine Lee, who has been engaged in political interference activities on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party, engaging with Members here at Parliament and associated political entities, including the former APPG: Chinese in Britain.

“I should highlight the fact that Lee has facilitated financial donations to serving and aspiring Parliamentarians on behalf of foreign nationals based in Hong Kong and China.

“This facilitation was done covertly to mask the origins of the payments. This is clearly unacceptable behaviour and steps are being taken to ensure it ceases.”

Since 2005, Lee has donated £675,586.88 to various MPs and the Labour Party. One of these payments, a substantial £182,284, pays the wages of Gardiner’s staffers, including her son, the Labour MP’s former diary manager.

According to the register of members’ interests, Gardiner received nearly £62,000 over 2019 and 2020.

MI5 believe Lee’s intention was to “cultivate individuals with the goal of promoting the CCP’s [Chinese Communist Party] agenda and challenging those that do not agree with its principles”.

Former leader of the Conservatives, Iain Duncan Smith, said the warning today was “not good enough”.

He said: “How can it be that an agent of a foreign despotic and despicable power that is hellbent on reducing many of those people into penury it seems, how can they put somebody into Parliament – this mother of Parliaments – and then that individual have nothing done to them other than they’re not allowed in Parliament?”

It is not believed Lee will be deported.

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