However, the prime minister’s spokesman denied the account when quizzed Monday.
“There was no role for any government, minister or member of the government in this decision-making process,” the spokesman said. They subsequently clarified that this included officials.
The Sunday Times claimed that Jonathan Powell, the prime minister’s national security adviser, had chaired a meeting in Whitehall last month where he told officials the government’s evidence would rely on the recently published National Security Strategy. The strategy does not refer to China as an “enemy” state, calling it a “geo-strategic challenge” instead.
Cash and Berry were suspected of breaching the 1911 Official Secrets Act, which says that a person is guilty of spying if they pass on information that is “directly or indirectly useful to an enemy.”
The PM’s spokesman said Monday that the government’s evidence could not have drawn on the 2025 National Security Strategy, but would have instead cited the policy of the Conservative government in power when the alleged offenses had taken place, between 2021 and early 2023.
The PM’s press secretary added: “The suggestions that the government withheld evidence, withdrew witnesses, or restricted the ability of witness to draw on particular bits of evidence, are all untrue.”