(AFP) — A suspected Chinese spy who became a confidant of disgraced royal Prince Andrew is only the “tip of the iceberg” of Beijing’s espionage activities in the UK, former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith claimed Monday.
Judges on Thursday upheld a ban on the businessman, identified only as H6, from entering the country, saying that the government had been “entitled to conclude that his exclusion was justified and proportionate”.
In the ruling, judges assessed H6 was in a position to “generate relationships between senior Chinese officials and prominent UK figures which could be leveraged for political interference purposes by the Chinese State”.
“The fact is, there are many more like him in the UK,” Duncan Smith, one of the UK’s leading China-sceptic voices, told BBC radio on Monday.
“We’re dealing with the tip of the iceberg,” he added.
Farage Predicts ‘A Lot More’ Chinese Spies Will be Found in Westminsterhttps://t.co/LWRgnohGKW
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) January 15, 2022
Duncan Smith is seeking an urgent question in parliament on Monday about the issue, with reports saying that other MPs may use parliamentary privilege to name the suspected spy.
The Sunday Times reported that H6 had also met former Conservative prime ministers David Cameron and Theresa May.
The tribunal heard that Prince Andrew’s aide Dominic Hampshire told the suspected spy that he could help in potential dealings with Chinese investors.
“Outside of his (Andrew’s) closest internal confidants, you sit at the very top of a tree that many, many people would like to be on,” Hampshire told H6 in a 2020 letter.
H6 also received an invitation to the prince’s birthday party.
Communist Chinese Spy Infiltrated UK Parliament Meeting for Exiled Hong Kong Activists: Claim https://t.co/Se6sqpLcE4
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) July 13, 2023
Former interior minister Suella Braverman banned H6 from entering the country in 2023 after her ministry found he had engaged in “covert and deceptive activity” on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
It is the latest humiliation for a prince whose reputation is already in tatters over his ties to convicted sex-offender Jeffrey Epstein.
A statement from Andrew’s office last week said that he had “followed advice” from the government and “ceased all contact with the individual after concerns were raised”.
“The duke met the individual through official channels, with nothing of a sensitive nature ever discussed,” it added.
UK newspapers reported on Monday that Buckingham Palace had told Andrew to withdraw from public view over Christmas.
