MI5 Chief Vows Action as Government Officials Avoid Swearing China Poses Daily Security Threat in Court
London, United Kingdom – A high-profile espionage case against two British men, Christopher Berry and Christopher Cash, collapsed in London after government officials reportedly refused to provide sworn testimony that China posed a threat to UK national security when the alleged offenses occurred.
The failure, weeks before the trial, sparked a political firestorm.
In a rare public intervention, MI5 Director General Ken McCallum stated emphatically that Chinese state actors do present a UK national security threat “every day,” directly contradicting the evidence constraints faced by prosecutors.
The charges under the outdated Official Secrets Act 1911 required a government witness to officially confirm China as a threat. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) dropped the case, citing a failure to obtain this necessary evidence due to the UK’s diplomatic positioning toward China at the time. The government and opposition are now trading blame for the debacle.