KEMI: IT STINKS OF A CHINA COVER-UP BY PM

Tory leader hits out at Starmer for 'simply unbelievable' collapse of spy trial

- By Michael Knowles and Christian Calgie

KEMI Badenoch said the China spy scandal "stinks of a coverup" as she branded Keir Starmer too weak to stand up to Beijing.

The Tory leader also accused the PM of a "shameful dereliction of duty” as fresh revelations rocked Downing Street yesterday.

Sir Keir’s official spokesman revealed for the first time that the Prime Minister knew for two days that the case was on the brink of collapse before it was announced by the Crown Prosecution Service.

And on a day of high drama, Sir Keir vowed in the Commons to publish the Government’s witness statements after accusations of a cover-up. But the move backfired, sparking a huge political row.

The CPS said the case against former parliamentary researcher Christopher Cash, 30, and teacher Christopher Berry, 33, was dropped after the Government failed to provide evidence designating China as a threat to national security. Both men denied the charges.

Mrs Badenoch declared, while referencing Lord Mandelson’s friendship with US paedophile Jeffrey Epstein: “Why should we believe a man who, at the last Prime Minister’s Questions, said he had full confidence in the best friend of a convicted paedophile?

“Forgive us if we don’t trust a word he says, this all stinks of a cover-up. He can’t tell us why his Government did not provide evidence that China was a threat. I suspect those statements won’t prove it either.

“He’s blaming his civil servants. He’s blaming the media. He’s blaming the last Government.

“He cannot explain why he could not see this case through.”

She added: “Those spies were charged under a Conservative Government, they were let off under Labour.”