Blair-era advisors arrested alongside MP's husband in China spy probe

Labour was plunged into a fresh China spying crisis on Wednesday after an MP's husband was arrested.

Lobbyist David Taylor, who is married to Labour MP Joani Reid, was held by Scotland Yard on suspicion of assisting a foreign intelligence service.

Police also picked up two other men, believed to have been advisers during the Tony Blair government, during a series of raids. 

All three suspects were being questioned on suspicion of helping Chinese intelligence amid claims of 'foreign interference targeting UK democracy'.

The shock development threatened to reignite the row over Labour's relationship with Beijing after the collapse of an unrelated prosecution of a parliamentary researcher and his English teacher friend who were accused of passing on Whitehall secrets.

MPs fear China has been emboldened by the 11th hour dropping of the case last year after the Government's deputy national security adviser Matt Collins refused to declare Beijing as an enemy of Britain.

And Sir Keir Starmer was accused of kowtowing to China's ruling Communist Party during a visit to the Far East in January. 

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said: 'China is targeting Britain. Enough.

'Keir Starmer chose to go to Beijing and boasted about opening a direct channel to president Xi without getting anything in return. That was a mistake.

'His Government has approved China's mega-embassy in London. Worse than that, he's making us even more reliant on Chinese goods for our energy security. 

'The Government needs to stop being naive, grow a backbone and treat China as the threat we all know it is.'

Security minister Dan Jarvis revealed yesterday that British officials had formally approached Chinese counterparts in London and Beijing about the arrests.

He told the Commons: 'We remain deeply concerned by an increasing pattern of covert activity from Chinese state-linked actors targeting UK democracy. 

'This involves attempts to obtain information on UK policy-making and interfere with our sovereign affairs.'

Last night police were still searching the three suspects' properties in London, Scotland and Wales. 

All three men had previously worked as special advisers or communications staff for high profile ministers, the Mail understands.

Mr Taylor is understood to have worked for energy companies as a lobbyist and as a government special adviser in the Wales Office under the New Labour government.

Yesterday his wife, who was elected to the Glasgow seat of East Kilbride and Strathaven in July 2024, and sits on the Commons home affairs committee, said: 'I have never seen anything to make me suspect my husband has broken any law.

'I have never been to China. I have never spoken on China or China-related matters in the Commons. I have never asked a question on China- related matters.

'As far as I am aware, I have never met any Chinese businesses while I have been an MP, any Chinese diplomats or government employees, nor raised any concern with ministers or anyone else on behalf of, even coincidentally, Chinese interests.

'I am a social democrat who believes in freedom of expression, free trade unions and free elections. I am not any sort of admirer or apologist for the Chinese Communist Party's dictatorship.'

Tory security spokesman Alicia Kearns yesterday accused the Government of being afraid to confront China.

Referring to the earlier collapsed case, of which she was a known target, she said: 'This is the inevitable outcome when espionage is conducted without accountability. 

'There have still been no repercussions for the Chinese Communist Party putting a spy in Parliament. Why? Ask the Government who must answer for their abject failure to act, and therefore to deter.'

In 2024, Mr Taylor became head of programmes at the Asia House think-tank, which develops links between Asia and Europe.

Asia House is the secretariat to the all-party parliamentary group for central Asia, meaning it connects policymakers, businesses and institutions to enhance understanding of the region's emerging opportunities.

Announcing his appointment, the think-tank described him as a 'former senior political adviser to the UK Labour Party' who 'offers unique insights into the new UK Government's approach to trade and international relations'.

A statement from Scotland Yard said: 'Three people have been arrested as part of a Counter Terrorism Policing investigation into suspected National Security Act offences.

'The men were arrested on suspicion of assisting a foreign intelligence service, contrary to section 3 of the National Security Act, 2023. 

'The country to which the investigation relates is China.'