The Latest Breaking News from Stephen Parkinson

The alleged Chinese spying affair currently troubling the UK government after the collapse of a trial is markedly different from previous espionage scandals. That is because it is centred not on the actions of suspected spies, but on the behaviour of the government. How did this come to happen?

Two parliamentary inquiries will look into the abandoned trial.

Stephen Parkinson called on to give ‘fuller explanation’ as MI5 expresses frustration over charges being dropped

Having long desired to lead the CPS, Parkinson now finds himself at the heart of a political row over the collapsed case

The facts had changed so MPs simply amended their conspiracy theories to fit the new evidence

The minister also rejected accusations of political interference by Sir Keir Starmer’s Government as ‘completely untrue’.

Labour MP and chair of security committee Matt Western says there are ‘a lot of questions yet to be asked’

Downing Street says had Starmer intervened he would have been interfering in a case related to a previous government

Kemi Badenoch questioned why the final witness statement submitted in the case set out Sir Keir Starmer’s approach to relations with Beijing.

In the statements, deputy national security adviser Matt Collins called China ‘the biggest state-based threat to the UK’s economic security’

Questions remain over trial collapse even as publication of key evidence scuppers Tory’s main line of attack