Mr Gardiner was a Labor Secretary in Sir Tony Blair’s government. He was later promoted to Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet and stood ready to assume a prominent position of power should Mr Corbyn win either of the two elections he lost.
In a statement, a spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in London dismissed MI5’s claims and insisted China always adheres to the principle of non-interference in other countries’ internal affairs.
“We have no need and never try to ‘buy influence’ in a foreign parliament. We firmly reject the ploy of defamation and intimidation against the Chinese community in the UK,” it said.
Barry Gardiner ‘introduced Tory MP to spy’
A former Conservative MP who was employed as a consultant by Ms Lee’s law firm said on Friday he was introduced to her by Mr Gardiner.
Neil Carmichael, who represented Stroud between 2010 and 2017, lists himself on his website as Chief Education Consultant at Christine Lee & Co. He is also Managing Director of the UK-China Culture and Education Cooperation Promotion Center Ltd, which is based at the address of Ms Lee’s law firm is incorporated and classifies Ms. Lee as Vice-Chairman.
Mr Carmichael said his direct work with the law firm was limited, adding: “It was in the House of Commons that I initially met them [Ms Lee] about Barry Gardiner, who introduced me to give a talk to some Chinese students. The allegations came as a complete surprise, my work revolved around education and marketing, not politics.”
Sam Armstrong, the Henry Jackson Society’s communications director, said: “While there is little evidence that it was successful, Christine Lee’s activities look very much like a bad version of The Manchurian Candidate. The political parties involved must now investigate whether these individuals were exploited, albeit unwittingly, by a communist state.”