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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
National
Jamie Grierson and agencies

MI5 alert on alleged Chinese mole may have been to distract from Partygate, tribunal hears

Christine Lee Barry Gardiner MI5 the Security Service Boris Johnson CCP
Barry Gardiner in 2019.
Christine Lee donated more than £500,000 to Barry Gardiner. She denies the allegations against her. Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA

A Labour MP and key ally of Jeremy Corbyn claimed it had been suggested that MI5 issued a rare alert notice about a lawyer who the Security Service believed was a Chinese mole as a distraction from Partygate, a tribunal has heard.

The Security Service issued an interference alert against Christine Lee in 2022, the day after Boris Johnson apologised for the Partygate scandal, warning MPs that she was a suspected Chinese agent who had engaged in “political interference activities” on behalf of a branch of the Chinese Communist party (CCP).

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