A lawyer who was accused of improperly trying to influence MPs and peers on behalf of China has lost a legal challenge against MI5, who said nearly three years ago that she was trying to interfere in the British democratic processs.
The investigatory powers tribunal ruled the spy agency had acted lawfully when it issued an “interference alert” in January 2022 about Christine Lee, a lawyer it accused of having “knowingly engaged in political interference activities” on behalf of Beijing.
Lord Justice Singh, sitting with Lord Boyd and Judge Rupert Jones, unanimously dismissed claims brought by Lee and her son Daniel Wilkes against MI5, in a ruling that was in part rendered in secret.
Lee is a lawyer who had been active in promoting Anglo-Chinese relations. She received an award from Theresa May when she was prime minister – and donated £584,177 to the office of the Labour MP Barry Gardiner.
The tribunal, led by Singh, concluded in an open, public judgment that it was satisfied that MI5’s national security concerns about Lee had “a rational basis” – but did not spell out what these concerns were for reasons of official secrecy.
The reasons, the judges added, were in a separate closed ruling, but they argued that the “national security evaluation” made by the spy agency was justified – and that it was entitled to issue the alert to MPs and peers nearly three years ago.
At the time, MI5 said Lee had been engaged on behalf of the United Front Work Department of the Chinese Communist party – and that the UFWD was “seeking to covertly interfere in UK politics” partly by cultivating “relationships with influential figures”.
Lee, who denies being a Chinese agent, had previously argued that the issuing of the alert served a “political purpose, namely to serve the interests of the Conservative party”.
Gardiner said on Tuesday that none of the money that Lee donated to his office, to pay for staff, had “according to MI5, came from an illegal source”. The MP, speaking to the BBC, said that he had “ceased all contact” with Lee as a result of the MI5 warning, while her son, Daniel, “was not implicated in anything that his mother” may or may not have done.
It is the second time in less than a week that a case about alleged improper Chinese influence has emerged. Last week, it was revealed that Yang Tengbo, an Anglo-Chinese businessman who had become associated with Prince Andrew, had been excluded from the UK in 2023, because it was believed he was an agent acting on behalf of Beijing and the UFWD.
Yang lost an appeal against his exclusion last week, and on Monday waived his anonymity as he denied the claim. “The widespread description of me as a ‘spy’ is entirely untrue,” Yang said in a statement.
Wilkes had been employed by Gardiner between 2017 and January 2022, when he lost his job working for the MP on the same day the interference alert was issued against Lee.
The former researcher said Gardiner gave him an ultimatum to resign or be dismissed after MI5 briefed the MP at the time the alert was issued. Gardiner denied this, the judgment said, but the MP released a statement at the time saying Wilkes had quit.
Wilkes brought a claim arguing the impact on him was so significant it amounted to an infringement of his human rights. He had “lost contact with friends” and “fears his future employers will be hesitant to hire him” because of his association with his mother, the judgment noted.
The tribunal ruled, however, that there had been no breach of Wilkes’s right to privacy and family life under article 8 of the European convention. The judges said MI5 had not mentioned him in its interference alert and that the spy agency did not terminate his employment with Gardiner.
Lee’s human rights were also not infringed by the issue of the interference alert, the tribunal ruled. “The public interest in the protection of national security outweighs the interference with C1 [Lee’s] right to respect for private life,” it said.
