In his first interview, parliamentary researcher Chris Cash has spoken to the BBC about being accused of spying for China.

In 2023 Chris Cash and his friend – Chris Berry – were arrested on suspicion of spying for China, but last year the case was suddenly dropped and the pair were acquitted.

Prosecutors said the case was dropped because the government wouldn’t confirm that China was an ‘enemy’ of the UK.

Chris Cash has given the BBC thousands of messages he exchanged with Chris Berry between January 2022 and March 2023, which were at the heart of the prosecution’s case.

BBC Politics Investigations Correspondent Joe Pike analyses the messages and asks Chris Cash how information from inside parliament may have reached the upper echelons of the Chinese Communist Party.

Chris Berry does not want to comment on this story. But he’s previously denied wrongdoing and said he’s been unfairly subjected to a trial by media, he believed his ex-employer had clients wishing to develop trading links with the UK, and his work contained no classified information.

The Chinese Embassy in London has previously called these allegations “completely fabricated and nothing but malicious slander”.

00:00 What was the China spy case?
01:30 Who is Chris Cash?
03:25 Chris Cash arrested on suspicion of spying for China in 2023
05:00 Who is Chris Berry?
05:40 The messages at the heart of the prosecution’s China spy case
07:15 Chris Cash charged with spying under the Official Secrets Act
08:50 Chris Berry and Chris Cash’s messages and voice notes
15:15 Why was the China spy case dropped?
15:46 Senior politicians on the dropped China spy case

Produced by Jo Crawford.

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