Acquitted in Britain's 'China Spy Case,' Former Parliamentary Researcher Chris Cash Gives First Interview, Calling Himself a 'Convenient Fall Guy' as 6,273 Messages Are Reviewed
The BBC published an interview with Chris Cash on November 11. Cash, a former British parliamentary researcher and former director of Parliament's China Research Group, was charged in 2024 alongside Chris Berry with spying for China; the case was dropped last autumn and both men were acquitted. It is Cash's first interview since his acquittal, and in it he said he had been made a 'convenient fall guy' by police and the security services.
On March 13, 2023, Cash was arrested in Edinburgh and Berry was arrested the same day at Heathrow Airport in London, and both were charged under Britain's Official Secrets Act. In the autumn of 2025, prosecutors dropped the charges: they said government officials could not state that China had been designated an 'enemy'-level threat to British national security at the relevant time, so the case could not proceed. Both men were legally cleared.
For the interview, Cash shared with the BBC 6,273 Signal messages exchanged with Berry between January 2022 and March 2023, which the BBC said his solicitor confirmed were genuine. The messages show a Chinese official seeking, through Berry, sensitive information about British politics, including the 2022 Conservative Party leadership contest. Berry described a 'secret' meeting with a senior Chinese official, said Beijing was concerned that a British lawmaker sanctioned by China might enter the Cabinet, and posted a Wikipedia link for Cai Qi, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee. Court documents said Berry compiled 34 reports for a man linked to Chinese state intelligence. Berry has said the reports were written for a Chinese company he believed served trade clients and were based on public sources; he denied wrongdoing after the case was dropped and declined to comment this time.
Cash told the BBC there was no evidence he was paid by, or sympathetic to, the Chinese Communist Party; he held no government security clearance, and there was no evidence he had access to classified documents. He admitted that sending 'gossip' to Berry was 'unprofessional and naive,' but insisted he would never do anything to undermine British security. He said he believed the case was pursued to put the threat of foreign espionage 'on the map,' as a warning to others.
China has repeatedly responded that British allegations of Chinese espionage in Britain are pure fabrication.
Source: BBC
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
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