Be on guard against foreign agents, says Patel

Home Secretary Priti Patel has warned MPs that they need to be wary of the threat of interference in British politics by foreign states, following disclosure a suspected Chinese agent has been targeting Parliament.

MI5 recently circulated an alert to MPs and peers that Christine Lee, a prominent London-based solicitor, was engaged in ‘political interference activities’ on behalf of China’s ruling communist regime. This was said to include channelling funds to British parliamentarians with a view to making the UK political landscape more favourable to Beijing.

Speaking in the House of Commons, Patel said that the threat of such interference operations by foreign powers was ‘growing and diversifying’ and that ministers were working with police and the Crown Prosecution Service to give them additional powers to tackle activities which were not currently illegal.

The Home Secretary also told MPs that these kinds of alerts were likely to become more commonplace and that new legislation would be introduced ‘to provide the security services and law enforcement agencies with the tools they need to disrupt the full range of state threats’.