Identifying Chinese spy with alleged links to Prince Andrew ‘matter for courts’, says minister

Sir Keir Starmer said he is “concerned” about the challenge China poses in his first comments on an alleged spy with links to Prince Andrew who has been barred from the UK.

Speaking from a press conference in Norway, the prime minister said he could not comment on whether the government has discussed the situation with Buckingham Palace due to “long standing convention” to keep these matters private.

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But he said that “of course we are concerned about the challenge China poses”.

Sir Keir said: “Our approach.. is one of engagement, of co-operating where we need to co-operate on issues like climate change, to challenge where we must and where we should particularly on issues like human rights, and to compete when it comes to trade.”

He added: I am not going to comment on Buckingham Palace or the royal side, as by convention the government never does.”

The alleged spy, known only as H6, was described in court as having formed an “unusual degree of trust” with the Duke of York. Last week a judge upheld a ruling that he should be banned from the UK.

Sky News has seen photos of him with David Cameron and Theresa May when they were Conservative prime ministers, but a court order prevents him from being named.

Identifying the agent is a “matter for the courts”, a government minster said earlier on Monday amid threats from Reform UK to name the man in the House of Commons using parliamentary privilege.

This allows members of parliament to speak freely during parliamentary proceedings without fear of legal action.

Jim McMahon, a minister for local government, said that this should be exercised with caution, telling Sky News: “Whether people choose to use parliamentary privilege is a matter of individual reconciliation. In the end, they need to be able to justify why they’ve done that.”

He said that while he does not know the alleged agent’s identity, he assumes “that everybody within the cabinet, depending on their security clearance, will know the answer to that question”.

MPs want more information on the individual, with former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith seeking to ask an Urgent Question in parliament on Monday about the United Front Work Department – the group said to be associated with H6.

The earliest this could take place today, if granted by Speaker of the House of Commons Sir Lindsay Hoyle, would be at 3.30pm.

Sir Iain has warned there are “many, many more” like H6 in the UK.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We’re dealing with the tip of the iceberg.

“The reality is that there are many, many more involved in exactly this kind of espionage that’s taking place. The reality for us is very simple – China is a very clear threat.”

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said Britain has a “complex” relationship with China which requires economic cooperation with the country while also challenging any risk to national security when questioned on the issue on Sunday.

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The alleged agent was first excluded from Britain by then-home secretary Suella Braverman in 2023, when the Home Office said he was believed to have carried out “covert and deceptive activity” for the Chinese Communist Party.

Judges at a specialist tribunal in London on Thursday ruled Ms Braverman had been “entitled to conclude” that he “represented a risk to the national security” after he launched an appeal against the decision.

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H6 was invited to Prince Andrew’s birthday party in 2020, and was told by royal aide Dominic Hampshire he could act on the duke’s behalf when dealing with potential investors in China, a tribunal heard in July this year.

A judge ruled the Chinese businessman had an “unusual” degree of trust from the royal.

On Friday, the duke said he “ceased all contact” with the businessman after concerns were raised by the government.

The Chinese embassy in London has denied H6 is a spy and accused “some people” in the UK of being keen to “make up all kinds of ‘spy’ stories against China…to smear China and sabotage normal people-to-people exchanges between China and the UK”.