A Tory MP has spoken out about her horror after being told her hotel room may have been bugged by China on a trip to Taiwan, saying the collapse of a case against two men accused of spying for Beijing “sends a really dangerous message”.
Alicia Kearns said she now worries what information the Chinese state may have “about me or particularly my family”.
Her intervention comes amid allegations that the prime minister’s team had access to multiple documents that proved China was a national security risk, but said it “chose not to” hand them over to the Crown Prosecution Service before the case was brought to a close.
One of the men accused, 30-year-old Christopher Cash, worked as a parliamentary researcher and was director of the China Research Group, with close links to then-senior Tories including Ms Kearns, who served as chair of the Commons foreign affairs committee.
Mr Cash and 33-year-old Christopher Berry, a teacher, were charged by the CPS in April last year with spying under the Official Secrets Act 1911, when they were accused of collecting and communicating information which could be “useful to an enemy”. Both denied the charges.
The prime minister has maintained that the last Conservative administration had not designated China as a threat to national security, so his government could not provide evidence to that effect, which the director of public prosecutions Stephen Parkinson said was required to meet the threshold for prosecution.
But former attorney general Dominic Grieve on Friday dismissed those claims as “weird”, telling The Independent: “I can’t see why the PM was not in a position to ask the Cabinet Office to provide the evidence.”
Mr Parkinson said the CPS had tried “over many months” to gather material from ministers, but it had not been forthcoming. The case collapsed in September.
Speaking to the Daily Mail about the dropped charges, Ms Kearns said: “All I was told was it’s come from the top. I think they cut the legs from under the CPS for some kind of grubby deal at the Treasury and No 10.
“It sends a really dangerous message that we will not defend our own democracy, we won’t defend our own people and the nation itself.
“It is inconceivable that the case could have collapsed without ministerial or executive involvement in some way. There are serious questions about constitutional propriety.”
Ms Kearns, the Conservative MP for Rutland and Stamford, added that she fears that Chinese dissidents could have been put in danger, while she also has concerns over a trip she took to Taiwan in 2022.
Describing a conversation she had with officers while being interviewed about the case, she added: “An officer asked, ‘Can I just check that you went to Taiwan, and is this the name of the hotel you stayed at? Can you tell us why it would be of interest to somebody to know that you were in Taiwan in that hotel?’
Keir Starmer’s defence for the collapse of the Chinese espionage case rests on two arguments, both patently false.
— Alicia Kearns MP (@aliciakearns) October 9, 2025
First, the previous Government did not describe China as a threat and therefore the case can’t be brought now. Second, the case against the Bulgarian nationals…
“They could have got in that room at any time. When I stay in a hotel, I always double-check if it is a two-way mirror, I always try to do a rough check for anything I’m worried about.
“But unless you have been specifically trained to do it, you can’t be sure that the room hasn’t got a bug or a camera somewhere. There could be photos of you walking around your hotel room naked.
“On trips like Taiwan, you assume that you’re being listened to in meetings. But in a hotel room, it’s not like you get changed under the covers. I worry what information they have about me or particularly my family – I would have rung my family in that room.”
The collapse of the case has raised questions about Britain’s willingness to confront China as Sir Keir’s government looks to build closer ties with the country.
And it comes as approval for the planned Chinese “mega embassy” in London is reportedly set to be further delayed as tensions rise over Labour’s approach to Beijing.
Officials in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government are reportedly preparing to announce that the deadline on 21 October will be pushed back, according to The Telegraph.
Controversy has surrounded China’s plans to build a large embassy near the Tower of London since 2018; no final decision has been made as it has been repeatedly delayed. China bought the 20,000 square metre complex in the Royal Mint Court at the time for £255m.
Yvette Cooper has insisted that she wanted the alleged Chinese spies prosecuted when she was home secretary in charge of MI5, but claimed her hands were tied.
“Let’s be really clear, the activity that was alleged in this case absolutely should be illegal and should face prosecution, and that’s why we supported changing the law since then, which makes it easier to prosecute cases like this,” she added.
