Acquitted ‘China Spy’ claims he was ‘fall guy’ for security services

A British man who was acquitted of spying for China said he believes he was used as a “fall guy” for security services who wanted to put foreign espionage threats “on the map”.

Mr Cash was a parliamentary researcher who worked with senior politicians from the Conservative Party, with a focus on security and foreign affairs. He was charged under the Official Secrets Act alongside his friend Chris Berry, who was living in China.

The pair were alleged to have provided information or documents that could be “useful to an enemy” and “prejudicial to the safety or interests” of the UK through their text messages to each other.

The case was dropped before it reached court after prosecutors decided it did not reach “the evidential standard” for conviction. But Mr Cash has now told the BBC he is “angry” about the impact the case has had on his life, and believes his case was pursued as a warning to others.

Messages shared with the broadcaster reportedly show how Mr Berry described his meeting with a top-ranking Chinese official in summer 2022. He said work colleagues had told him of the official’s interest in reports he had written about the UK's foreign policy approach to China.

He said he had initially been concerned, but then decided to accept the official’s invite “not really intending to do anything”.

Mr Berry told his friend he had been driven to a government-owned villa in a large compound and asked questions "about the situation in the UK at the moment, about the Tory leadership thing". At the time Boris Johnson had just resigned as prime minister and a Tory leadership contest was underway.

He added he had tried to jokingly ask which candidate China would prefer, but was then told the conversation was over.

Mr Cash later replied to his friend’s messages and said he had been “elite level captured” in an exchange that had been presented as a smoking gun by many media reports. But Mr Cash said it was a "tongue-in-cheek joke" because he knew his friend to be "a staunch critic of the Chinese Communist Party".

"I didn't believe he was knowingly spying on the UK through me," Mr Cash said. "I trusted my friend… I wish I had seen the danger earlier, spotted it and cut off all contact."

A few months later, messages from Mr Berry to Mr Cash show he had told his friend he had it on “pretty good authority” that Beijing was considering dropping sanctions against Tory MP Tom Tugendhat as long as the West "continued to show signals that they are willing to work together".

He said the Chinese believed it would be "extremely embarrassing" if Tugendhat became prime minister or foreign secretary while under Chinese sanctions. Mr Cash said he believed Mr Berry had simply got the information “through the grapevine” at his company, which was doing business with the UK.

The pair were arrested in March 2023 and Mr Berry’s devices were seized when he arrived back in the country.

Mr Cash admitted he had shared some impressions from meetings and private discussions in Westminster with his friend. On 12 occasions in the messages, he labelled information "off the record" or "very off the record" before passing it on. But he insisted this was "just me excitedly sharing things that I was doing with him at work".

Both Mr Cash and Mr Berry were charged under the Official Secrets Act, but the case was dropped weeks before it was due to go to trial in September 2024. Despite this, Mr Cash said it has had a lasting impact on his life.

"I've been applying for basic admin jobs and having trouble recently," he said. "I'm angry and upset with how everything played out, and I do feel let down."

Mr Berry previously said he denied any wrongdoing and that he had been "unfairly subjected to a trial by media".