China Spy Claims As Parliament Researcher Arrested

[The_DADDY]

A researcher at the UK Parliament has been arrested under the Official Secrets Act, amid claims he was spying for China.

 

Police have confirmed two men, one in his 20s and another in his 30s, were arrested under the act in March.

 

Sources have told the BBC one of them was a parliamentary researcher involved in international affairs issues.

 

As first reported in the Sunday Times, it is understood the researcher had links to several Conservative MPs.

 

On Sunday morning, No 10 said Rishi Sunak had expressed concerns about Chinese interference to a senior official from China.

 

A spokesperson said the prime minister had met Chinese Premier Li Qiang during the G20 summit in India, and "conveyed his significant concerns about Chinese interference the UK's parliamentary democracy".

 

Chinese President Xi Jinping is not attending the summit.

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-66765759

[Pyrotequila]

Hardly surprising.

 

Surely a lot of countries have spies working for them?

[Guest]

9 minutes ago, Pyrotequila said:

Hardly surprising.

 

Surely a lot of countries have spies working for them?

Quite correct   -   including us.

 

[despritdan]

Put him on a slow boat to China.

[aardvark6535]

4 hours ago, The_DADDY said:

UK's parliamentary democracy

Now that's a laugh, and as for Foreign interference in our parliament - when hasn't there been?.

 98% of the sad sorry lot are corrupt in one way or another.

 

[m williamson]

The 'alleged ' spy has been identified as 28 year old Chris Cash, there's a photo of him on the front of todays Times.

He was associated with Tom Tugendhat and employed as a researcher by Alicia Kearns ( and possibly Beijing by the look of things ).

 

Mr Cash is  Public School educated and grew up in a wealthy part of Edinburgh.  The thing that most concerns me about this affair is why  in these days of equal opportunity and ' Levelling Up ' how is that the posh lads and lasses still get all the spying jobs?

 

These jobs must pay quite well I would have thought but people from working class backgrounds never get a look in.  Your everyday Sheffielder is always more than ready to give their opinion as to the state of the local authorities and the Westminster government.

If there's a market for this type of information it's completely wrong that access to it should be denied  on a class basis.

 

[Baron99]

3 hours ago, m williamson said:

The 'alleged ' spy has been identified as 28 year old Chris Cash, there's a photo of him on the front of todays Times.

He was associated with Tom Tugendhat and employed as a researcher by Alicia Kearns ( and possibly Beijing by the look of things ).

 

Mr Cash is  Public School educated and grew up in a wealthy part of Edinburgh.  The thing that most concerns me about this affair is why  in these days of equal opportunity and ' Levelling Up ' how is that the posh lads and lasses still get all the spying jobs?

 

These jobs must pay quite well I would have thought but people from working class backgrounds never get a look in.  Your everyday Sheffielder is always more than ready to give their opinion as to the state of the local authorities and the Westminster government.

If there's a market for this type of information it's completely wrong that access to it should be denied  on a class basis.

 

My bold. 

 

So someone has been accused of 'spying' against his own country & the 'Thing'that MOST concerns you is you consider him a' Posh lad'.  Be less of a concern to you then if he'd be a thick lad straight out of a comprehensive north of the Watford Gap?   Yes, rightly or wrongly the ex-Public school boys & girls end up in such jobs & do you know what, Labour & the Lib Dems MP's also employ them because not only have they been to Public Schools, they've also been to a decent Uni & did well & probably came out with an Honours Degree in a subject useful to the MP they're going to work for.  The alternative of course is to have the MP employ one of their thick relations, so we chuck claims of nepotism at them. 

 

"These jobs must pay quite well?". A quick Internet check, I've come up with £27k - £33k as an MP's  researcher in the HoC.  Hardly megabucks for London. 

 

As this Chris Cash has been on bail since March & the bail terms end apparently in October, I'm presuming that the authorities are struggling to make a case against him.   Don't get me wrong, anyone found spying against the UK should be given 30 years, now it's deemed improper to execute them for espionage. 

 

Finally, as MI5 & MI6 are given a budget of around £6 billion a year, as far as I can find out, hopefully we have hundreds of people around the World, spying on our behalf? 

Edited September 11, 2023 by Baron99

[m williamson]

9 minutes ago, Baron99 said:

My bold. 

 

So someone has been accused of 'spying' against his own country & the 'Thing'that MOST concerns you is you consider him a' Posh lad'.  Be less of a concern to you then if he'd be a thick lad straight out of a comprehensive north of the Watford Gap?   Yes, rightly or wrongly the ex-Public school boys & girls end up in such jobs & do you know what, Labour & the Lib Dems MP's also employ them because not only have they been to Public Schools, they've also been to a decent Uni & did well & probably came out with an Honours Degree in a subject useful to the MP they're going to work for.  The alternative of course is to have the MP employ one of their thick relations, so we chuck claims of nepotism at them. 

 

"These jobs must pay quite well?". A quick Internet check, I've come up with £27k - £33k as an MP's  researcher in the HoC.  Hardly megabucks for London. 

 

As this Chris Cash has been on bail since March & the bail terms end apparently in October, I'm presuming that the authorities are struggling to make a case against him.   Don't get me wrong, anyone found spying against the UK should be given 30 years, now it's deemed improper to execute them for espionage. 

 

Finally, as MI5 & MI6 are given a budget of around £6 billion a year, as far as I can find out, hopefully we have hundreds of people around the World, spying on our behalf? 

 Whoosh.... You really don't have much of a sense of humour do you Baron? How anyone could take that post seriously is beyond me. 

It was a joke! Okay, maybe not a particularly good joke, but for crying out loud how could you think that someone demanding that equal opportunity and levelling up should include the opportunity to spy for another country was being serious?

🙄

[HeHasRisen]

5 minutes ago, m williamson said:

 Whoosh.... You really don't have much of a sense of humour do you Baron? How anyone could take that post seriously is beyond me. 

It was a joke! Okay, maybe not a particularly good joke, but for crying out loud how could you think that someone demanding that equal opportunity and levelling up should include the opportunity to spy for another country was being serious?

🙄

Jokes aren't allowed on here.  This is serious business.

[m williamson]

7 minutes ago, HeHasRisen said:

Jokes aren't allowed on here.  This is serious business.

My apologies, I stand corrected 😔