The United Kingdom’s parliament has been shaken by allegations that two of its staff were Chinese spies. The scandal illustrates that Western democracies are ill-prepared for Communist China’s intelligence gathering and political interference operations.
The Times, which first broke the story last week, identified one of the alleged Chinese spies as Chris Cash, a 28-year-old British citizen. According to The Times, Cash was a history major who had studied and worked in China. Cash was recruited as a “sleeper” agent during his stay in China, tasked with infiltrating the U.K.’s political networks critical of the Beijing regime.
Cash seemed to have succeeded in his mission. Alicia Kearns, chairwoman of parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, hired Cash as a researcher. Although he had no security clearance, Cash accessed almost everywhere in Westminster as an employee. He worked for the China Research Group, an internal think tank co-founded by conservative members of parliament (MP) Tom Tugendhat and Neil O’Brien in 2020. Members of the think tank are mostly conservative MPs with hawkish views on China and its ruling Communist Party (CCP).
Cash was reportedly an outgoing individual and often a fixture at Westminster’s social scenes, rubbing elbows with MPs, activists, Chinese dissidents, and journalists covering China. Cash also participated in China-related policy discussions. Early this year, Cash accompanied a conservative MP to meet with Cabinet Office minister Alex Burghart to discuss proposed amendments to the Procurement Bill.
The bill was designed to strengthen U.K. policy toward China, including the ability to exclude companies posing national security risks from bidding on government contracts.
