By Staff Writer.
British Security Service MI5 has accused a longstanding Birmingham lawyer of covertly working for the Chinese Government and attempting to subvert the British parliamentary process. On Thursday, MI5 took the rare step of naming the suspected spy and alerting House of Commons and House of Lords members.
MI5 issued a Security Service Interference Alert that says Ms Christine Lee, principal at Birmingham’s Christine Lee & Co legal practice, undertook political interference activities on behalf of the United Work Front Department (UWFD) of the Chinese Communist Party.
“Lee has been engaged in the facilitation of financial donations to political parties, parliamentarians, aspiring parliamentarians and individuals seeking political office in the UK, including facilitating donations to political entities on behalf of foreign nationals,” the MI5 notice reads.
The UWFD reportedly encourages high profile and influential people such as MPs to speak out favourably on behalf of China. The department also works to dissuade any public criticism of China.
“We judge that the UFWD is seeking to covertly interfere in UK politics through establishing links with established and aspiring parliamentarians across the political spectrum,” MI5 said.
Ms Lee’s legal website says she has over 30 years of experience working on behalf of major investors and private clients in trade and relocations between the United Kingdom and China. Her legal firm also conducts work on behalf of the Chinese Embassy in the UK.
Ms Lee’s close ties to several forming and serving British parliamentarians had reportedly raised flags at MI5 some time ago.
In 2019, Mr Lee received an award from then Prime Minister Teresa May for her work on China Overseas Friendship Association and an NGO she founded, the British-Chinese Project.
The lawyer now stands accused of facilitating over £500,000 in payments to former Labour minister and current parliamentarian Barry Gardiner and paying lesser amounts to Labour HQ, Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey, and other current and former MPs.
MI5 alleges that Ms Lee was a front for funding from foreign nationals in China and Hong Kong.
“Lee has been engaged in the facilitation of financial donations to political parties, parliamentarians, aspiring parliamentarians and individuals seeking political office in the UK, including facilitating donations to political entities on behalf of foreign nationals,” says the MI5 notice.
“This facilitation was done covertly to mask the origins of the payments,” says Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle in a letter circulated to UK parliamentarians this week. “This is clearly unacceptable behaviour, and steps are being taken to ensure it ceases.”
It emerged Ms Lee’s son worked as a staffer in Barry Gardiner’s office. As the scandal broke, the son was asked to resign. It has also been confirmed Ms Lee has been paying some staffing costs at Mr Gardiner’s office for five years.
Mr Gardiner denies all knowledge of Ms Lee’s purported agenda and says his dealings with her were always above board.
MI5 says Ms Lee had engaged with people across the UK political spectrum. In 2016, then Prime Minister David Cameron addressed a British-Chinese Project event. In the same year, she was photographed talking to former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and ex-deputy leader Tom Watson.
The MI5 notice warns parliamentarians to be mindful of Ms Lee’s affiliation with the Chinese state and her remit to advance the Chinese Communist Party’s agenda in UK politics.
