The UK Shouldn’t Be Conducting Foreign Policy in the Shadows

In a rare interview more than 20 years ago, Jonathan Powell, who’s currently Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s national security adviser, admitted, “My job is best done in the shadows.” The collapse of the state’s prosecution of Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry, two Britons accused of spying for China, has thrust this reclusive civil servant into an unwelcome spotlight.

The intelligence agencies, MI5 and MI6, have been increasingly vocal about the threat from Chinese cyberwarfare and human-intelligence gathering in recent years, and appear to be furious that the prosecution was dropped. (Both men have denied the accusations.) Director of Public Prosecutions Stephen Parkinson has implicitly accused No. 10 of sabotaging the case weeks before the trial. Powell has been fingered as the chief culprit. The alleged motive? Fear of antagonizing Beijing and jeopardizing hopes of a better trade relationship. On this view, the government deliberately failed to provide sufficient legal proof that China is an active enemy of the British state, such that spying for it would merit a court conviction.