A reference to China being an “enemy” of the UK was removed from key evidence for a collapsed spy trial in 2023 as it “did not reflect government policy” under the Conservatives at the time, according to national security adviser Jonathan Powell.
He said Counter Terror Police and the Crown Prosecution Service were aware of the change made by his deputy Matt Collins, in a letter signed by both to the Joint Committee on National Security Strategy (JCNSS).
This would mean the CPS knew the “enemy” reference had been removed before charging the two suspects, according to Mr Powell.
Director of public prosecutions (DPP) Stephen Parkinson told the committee – in another letter published on Friday – that it took Mr Collins more than a year to confirm to prosecutors that he would not say China posed a threat to UK national security in court.
He said a High Court judge ruled in June last year that an “enemy” under law is a state which “presently poses an active threat to the UK’s national security”, prompting the CPS to ask the deputy national security adviser (DNSA) whether China fulfilled that criteria.
Mr Parkinson told the committee that prosecutors did not believe there would be “any difficulty in obtaining evidence” from Mr Collins that China was a national security threat, but added: “This was a sticking point that could not be overcome.”
He added that the DNSA’s “unwillingness” to describe China as an active or current threat was “fatal to the case” because Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry’s defence teams would have been entitled to call him as a witness.
Mr Parkinson added: “This factor is compounded by the fact that drafts of the first witness statement, reviewed by us in July 2025, showed that references to China being an ‘enemy’ or ‘possible enemy’ had been deleted.
“Those drafts would probably have been disclosable to the defence.”
A final draft of Mr Collins’ statement was sent to then-prime minister Rishi Sunak in December 2023, Mr Powell’s letter said.
“Drafts of a statement provided to DNSA included the term ‘enemy’ but he removed this term from the final draft as it did not reflect government policy,” the letter reads.
The CPS dropped the charges against Mr Cash and Mr Berry in September, a month before a trial was due to take place.
Both men, who deny wrongdoing, had been accused of passing secrets to Beijing.
Because the CPS was pursuing charges under the Official Secrets Act 1911, prosecutors would have had to show the defendants were acting for an “enemy”.
Mr Parkinson has come under pressure to provide a fuller explanation for the abandonment of the case.
He has blamed insufficient evidence being provided by the government that Beijing represented a threat to the UK at the time of the alleged offences.
The Conservatives have accused Sir Keir Starmer of letting the case collapse, but Labour has said there was nothing more it could have done.
The current Government has insisted ministers did not intervene in the case or attempt to make representations to ensure the strength of evidence, for fear of interfering with the course of justice.
Attorney General Lord Hermer said in a letter to the JCNSS that he was informed of the DPP’s decision to offer no evidence – collapsing the case – on September 3, and discussed the decision with him but “did not though intervene in the case or give any direction to the DPP”.
He said he did not share the information with Cabinet colleagues at the “express request” of Mr Parkinson.
“I was not consulted on the decision, nor would it be appropriate for me to have any involvement in, or objection to, the decision to discontinue on evidential grounds,” he said.
Darren Jones, the Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister, in his own letter, said Mr Collins’ three witness statements published last week are “consistent” in their evaluation of the threat posed by China under the current and previous governments.
But he stressed that “this Government’s position is immaterial” as the prosecution’s case is based on the policy at the time of the alleged offences.
Lord Hermer and Mr Jones have been summoned to give evidence next week at a public hearing on the spy case as part of the JCNSS’ inquiry into it.
The Prime Minister’s spokesman reiterated the Government’s position that “what is relevant in a criminal case of this nature is the government’s position at the time of the alleged offences”.
