PARLIAMENTARY STAFF URGED TO REPORT UNUSUAL APPROACHES AFTER CHINA SPY ARRESTS
The Speaker has urged MPs’ staff to report any “unusual approach” from foreign agents after the partner of a Labour MP was arrested on suspicion of spying for China.
Sir Lindsay Hoyle said the risks from China were “not receding” the day after three men, all with connections to the Labour Party, were arrested for allegedly assisting a foreign intelligence service.
The Speaker of the House of Commons urged all staff to review guidance, issued last autumn, on how to identify and report foreign states targeting Parliament and improve security on their phones.
David Taylor, the partner of Joani Reid MP, was held by the Metropolitan Police under the National Security Act on Wednesday.
Matthew Aplin and Steve Jones, both from Wales, were arrested on suspicion of assisting Chinese intelligence. All three have since been bailed.
In an email on Thursday, Sir Lindsay urged all MPs’ staff to report any “unusual approach” to the parliamentary security department.
He wrote: “Recent cases have shown that foreign state actors still rely on traditional methods to obtain information, including through recruiting of people to form relationships and provide information.
“Foreign state actors also commonly target electronic devices and communications to gather information.
“Simple steps can be taken to make it much harder for devices to be hacked and information to be stolen. Everyone should be taking these steps to make ourselves a harder target.”
He also told staff they were “a critical part of our defence against foreign state activity”, adding: “The risks are not receding. We all need to take action to make Parliament and the parliamentary community more resilient to foreign state espionage and interference.”
Searches were carried out at the properties where the three arrests took place, as well as at addresses in London, East Kilbride and Cardiff.
Mr Taylor is the head of programmes at the Asia House think tank, which promotes engagement between Asia and Europe.
He is understood to have worked for energy companies as a lobbyist and as a government special adviser in the Wales Office under the New Labour government.
Ms Reid was elected to the seat of East Kilbride and Strathaven in July 2024, and sits on the Commons home affairs committee. She was born in Glasgow and worked in public policy before entering local government as a councillor in 2014.
After Mr Taylor’s arrest, she said: “I have never seen anything to make me suspect my husband has broken any law.”
The arrests are the latest in a series of scandals relating to Beijing that have hit the Labour Party.
Sir Keir Starmer was criticised for his handling of the trials of Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry, who were accused of stealing secrets from Parliament and selling them to senior officials in the Chinese Communist Party. They both denied the charges.
The trial collapsed last year after the Government refused to provide evidence that China was an enemy, which was required to prosecute the two men under antiquated espionage legislation.
Labour has also given the go-ahead to plans for a Chinese super-embassy in London, despite a Telegraph investigation into a concealed chamber that will sit beside fibre-optic cables transmitting financial data to the City of London.
The same hidden room is to be fitted with hot-air extraction systems, possibly suggesting the installation of heat-generating equipment such as advanced computers used for espionage.
In November, MI5 issued an “espionage alert” to Parliament over Chinese spying fears.
The Security Service named two recruitment “headhunters” whom it said the Chinese ministry of state security (MSS) had been using to reach individuals in Parliament.
Amanda Qiu, the chief executive of BR-YR Executive Search, and Shirly Shen, co-founder of the Internship Union, were known to use LinkedIn to “conduct outreach at scale” on behalf of the MSS, according to MI5.
2026-03-05T14:00:41Z