Revealed: How Prince Andrew and the 'spy chief' at the heart of China scandal met at least three times... as Starmer is rebuked by the MI5 boss over the collapsed case
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Prince Andrew met the alleged 'spymaster' at the heart of the collapsed China spy case at least three times, it emerged on Thursday night.
The Duke of York became embroiled in the scandal engulfing the Government as pictures showed him shaking hands with the Beijing official said to have helped mastermind the Westminster espionage plot.
Andrew, already mired in controversy over his friendship with another alleged Beijing spy, forged links with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) mandarin Cai Qi, with the pair posing as they celebrated 'jointly building a golden era in China-UK relations'.
Prosecutors now believe Cai was presiding over a massive intelligence-gathering operation to steal British secrets, overseeing the alleged activities of parliamentary researcher Christopher Cash and China-based English teacher Christopher Berry.
Both men have denied any wrongdoing and the case against them collapsed on the eve of trial last month after the Government refused to label China an 'enemy'.
According to the Foreign Affairs Office of the Beijing municipal government, Andrew met Cai, one of the most senior members of the CCP and a close ally of president Xi Jinping, when the duke was the UK's trade envoy.
The first time was in May 2018 during a five-day goodwill visit to the UK led by a CCP delegation. Cai also met London mayor Sadiq Khan, Scotland First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and Jeremy Corbyn, who was Labour leader at the time.
The prince and Cai greeted each other again the following month, when Andrew stopped in Beijing during a visit to China.
Prince Andrew met Cai Qi, the alleged 'spymaster' at the heart of the collapsed China spy case, at least three times (pictured: the pair in 2018)
Cai Qi with Prince Andrew in April 2019 in China
The pair pictured shaking hands on the same day in April 2019
In April 2019, the pair were reunited in China again. Cai hailed the duke's return visit as 'jointly building a golden era in
China-UK relations' which had 'become a consensus among our two governments and peoples'.
In a gushing reply, according to the Foreign Affairs Office, Andrew praised Beijing's 'obvious advantages in innovation and entrepreneurship', and said he was 'willing to work with Beijing' to 'explore more areas of cooperation'.
It comes as:
- The head of MI5 issued a veiled rebuke to Sir Keir Starmer over the case collapse, insisting: 'I will never back off from confronting threats to the UK';
- Pressure was building on the Director of Public Prosecutions to explain why the case was dropped despite alleged bombshell evidence against the accused;
- MI5 revealed it had thwarted a Chinese plot to attack Britain's national security only last week;
- Labour delayed a decision on whether to approve China's new 'super-embassy' in central London.
Head of MI5 Sir Ken McCallum, pictured on Thursday, issued a veiled rebuke to Sir Keir Starmer over the case collapse, insisting: 'I will never back off from confronting threats to the UK'
Labour shelved a decision on whether to approve China's new 'super-embassy' in London hours before Boris Johnson's former advisor Dominic Cummings, pictured, claimed intelligence services had told him 'explicitly' Beijing was trying to build a 'spy centre' there
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, pictured at PMQs on Wednesday, faces a crisis as the political row grows ever more furious with MPs blaming him for the collapse of the trial
This is the latest humiliation for Prince Andrew who is already a royal pariah after being forced to step back from palace duties following the fallout from the Jeffrey Epstein paedophile scandal.
The disgraced duke has long courted influential businessmen. But when it came to the Chinese, he was said to be in 'a desperate situation and will grab on to anything', court papers revealed last year as his links to another alleged spy, Yang Tengbo, emerged.
Those claims came as MI5 banished Yang, a 'close confidant' of the duke, from Britain on security grounds. On Thursday night, Beijing denounced 'British politicians' attempts to smear and defame China'. The Chinese embassy in London warned the UK Government that it should 'stop undermining China-UK relations'.
An embassy spokesman said: 'We have emphasised from the outset that the allegation about China instructing the relevant British individuals to 'steal British intelligence' is pure fabrication and malicious slander, which we firmly reject.
'China never interferes in other countries' internal affairs and always acts in an open and above-board manner. As a Chinese saying goes, 'While the superior man is at ease with himself, the inferior man is always anxious'. The attempt... to smear China is doomed to fail.' Andrew has always denied any wrongdoing.
