UK’s MI5 issued Chinese spy alert to distract from Boris Johnson scandal, court hears

Lawyer Christine Lee is suing MI5 for unspecified damages, arguing the agency had acted unlawfully and unreasonably

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Christine Lee. File photo: British Chinese Project via AFP

Published: 1:14am, 18 Jun 2024Updated: 1:54pm, 18 Jun 2024

Britain’s domestic spy agency MI5 issued an alert branding a woman a Chinese agent to possibly divert attention from a Covid-19 lockdown party scandal involving former prime minister Boris Johnson, her lawyer told a London tribunal on Monday.

In January 2022, MI5 sent out an alert notice about lawyer Christine Lee, alleging she was “involved in political interference activities” in the United Kingdom on behalf of China’s ruling Communist Party.

The warning was circulated to lawmakers by the House of Commons Speaker, who said MI5 had found that Lee had “facilitated financial donations to serving and aspiring parliamentarians on behalf of foreign nationals based in Hong Kong and China”.

Lee is now suing MI5 for unspecified damages, arguing the agency had acted unlawfully and unreasonably.

British newspapers with reports about Boris Johnson’s lockdown-breaching parties in 2022. File photo: AP

At an Investigatory Powers Tribunal hearing on Monday, her lawyer Ramby de Mello read out a message sent to Lee from Barry Gardiner – a lawmaker for the opposition Labour Party who said he had received hundreds of thousands of pounds in donations from her – in which he queried MI5’s motives.