The description of China as an “enemy” was removed from the final draft of a witness statement in relation to the spying case because it did not reflect government policy at the time.
Drafts of a witness statement provided to deputy national security adviser Matt Collins in late 2023 “included the term ‘enemy’ but he removed this term from the final draft as it did not reflect government policy”, according to a letter to MPs published on Friday.
The Conservatives were in power at the time.
The note to the joint committee on national security strategy – from Mr Collins and national security adviser Johnathan Powell – laid out that a final draft of Collins’ statement was sent to then prime minister Rishi Sunak in December 2023.
Sir Keir Starmer and the Tories have faced questions over the collapse of the case against Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry, and the UK’s relationship with Beijing.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has also come under pressure to provide an explanation about why the case was abandoned. The body dropped the charges, issued under the Official Secrets Act, against Mr Cash and Mr Berry in September, a month before a trial was due to take place.
The pair have both denied the accusation of spying for China.
Prosecutors have blamed insufficient evidence being provided by the government that Beijing represented a threat to the UK at the time of the alleged offences.
According to the letter released on Friday, “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.”
Two government ministers have been summoned to a hearing on the collapse of the case next week.
The joint committee on national security strategy has asked the prime minister’s chief secretary, Darren Jones, and attorney general, Richard Hermer, to give evidence to their inquiry on 28 October.
Earlier this week, a Home Office minister told the Tories to “stop throwing mud” at the government over the matter, as he insisted the government did not interfere in the case.
Addressing MPs on Monday, security minister Dan Jarvis said: “There is nothing that the prime minister or any other minister could have done at that point, and would have changed what the law and what the policy was under the previous government between 2021 and 2023.
“Ultimately, it was an entirely independent decision by the CPS to discontinue the case and they have confirmed that they came under no outside pressure to do so.”
