Tories ‘dropped MP candidates after M15 warned they could be Chinese spies’
The Conservative Party had to pull two of its MP candidates after M15 said they may be a security risk to the country, it has been reported.
They were allegedly scrapped from the Tories’ central list of future hopefuls after M15 issued its warning in 2021 and 2022.
The Times quoted a source saying: ‘It was made very clear that they posed a risk.
‘They were subsequently blocked from the candidates list. They weren’t told why.’
The Conservative Party said: ‘When we receive credible information regarding security concerns over potential candidates we act upon them.’
It comes as ministers continue to face questions about allegations of espionage in Westminster after the arrest of a parliamentary researcher on suspicion of spying for Beijing.
The researcher, who had links with senior Tories including security minister Tom Tugendhat and Foreign Affairs Committee chair Alicia Kearns, was arrested back in March – but it went undisclosed until last weekend.
The arrest under the Official Secrets Act led to the Prime Minister confronting Chinese Premier Li Qiang at the G20 summit in India on Sunday.
The PM slammed the ‘unacceptable’ interference in democracy in the brief meeting yesterday.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman and Mr Tugendhat are pushing for China to be relabelled as a threat to Britain’s safety and interests under new national security laws, the Times reported.
Anyone working at the direction of China or a state-linked firm would have to register and disclose their activities or risk jail under the plans.
Sir Iain Duncan Smith, the former party leader who has been sanctioned by Beijing, was among the Tories pressing the Prime Minister to strengthen his language towards China.
He hit out at the ‘weak’ position of not labelling China a threat, and said: ‘The result is that China is penetrating all our institutions from universities to Parliament.
‘Time to speak through strength not weakness.’
But justice secretary Alex Chalk defended the prime minister to the BBC.
He said: ‘You cannot wish away China – China is the world’s second-biggest economy.
‘It would be wrong to totally disengage and, incidentally, our other G7 allies – if you look at France, if you look at Germany – they’re adopting a similar approach as well.
‘So of course there are plenty of things taking place in China which we are right to raise with the Chinese.
‘We will always uphold our values as a rule of law nation, as a nation that believes in fundamental human rights and we won’t be afraid to assert them.
‘But it would be quite wrong to pretend they (China) don’t exist and don’t engage. Given that livelihoods in our country depend on what happens in Beijing, it’s right to engage.’
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