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An alleged Chinese spy at the heart of the latest scandal to engulf Prince Andrew has been barred from the UK because he was likely to pose a threat to national security.
The businessman, who liked to divide his time between China and UK – calling it his “second home” – had previously been granted indefinite leave to remain in Britain where he established himself as a close confidant of the Duke of York.
He is said to have used his high profile connection to secure invitations to Buckingham Palace and other royal residences, with fresh reports now alleging he also met two former prime ministers.
The Sunday Times claims that he met David Cameron at a Downing Street reception and Theresa May at a black-tie event, keeping photos of both encounters, which took place over the last 15 years, in his London office. It is unclear whether the meetings took place while either was in office.
However, he was expelled from Britain in 2023 by then-home secretary Suella Braverman, with the Home Office saying he was considered to have engaged in “covert and deceptive activity” on behalf of the United Front Work Department (UFWD), which is an arm of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) state apparatus.
The Chinese businessman brought a case to the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (Siac), but this was dismissed on Thursday with judges ruling Ms Braverman had been “entitled to conclude” that he “represented a risk to the national security”.
An interim anonymity order is in place for the businessman, who is known only as H6. However, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has threatened to use parliamentary privilege to name the suspected Chinese spy.
Parliamentary privilege provides legal immunity for MPs in cases such as this if he were to reveal the name of the businessman in the House of Commons.
Mr Farage told the Mail on Sunday that H6 should be “named immediately”, saying that a failure to do so “smacks of an establishment cover up”. He added: “If it’s not resolved in the courts, he should be named in the Commons. It’s clearly in the national interest.”
Labour MP Graham Stringer told the paper that it was “ludicrous” for H6 to remain anonymous “in the country he was allegedly spying on”.
Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith is believed to be seeking a Commons debate on H6’s alleged activities, despite the parliamentary convention that MPs avoid discussing the affairs of senior members of the royal family. Sir Iain told said that parliament has a “right to know” because the Royals are at the top of the government.
A letter from Dominic Hampshire, a senior advisor to Andrew, emphasised the special nature of H6’s relationship with the royal family after he was invited to the duke’s birthday party in 2020.
It said: “I also hope that it is clear to you where you sit with my principal and indeed his family.
“You should never underestimate the strength of that relationship… Outside of his closest internal confidants, you sit at the very top of a tree that many, many people would like to be on.”
However, Dame Angela Eagle refused to say whether the revelation that an alleged spy had developed links with the Duke of York was an embarrassment for the UK as she insisted security services were “always vigilant” around potential espionage.
The Home Office minister told Sky News’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips: “I’m not going to comment on the internal issues with the royal family. I don’t think that’s appropriate.
“Everybody knows what’s happened. They know the actions that’s been taken and they can come to their own judgment.”
Asked how much she could say about the individual, Dame Angela said: “I can’t tell you anything because, as you know, it is a security and intelligence issue and the courts have made some decisions about that, so currently he’s only known as H6, but the thing that we need to focus on is that he was thought to pose a threat to our security, especially with what he was doing in his friendship with Prince Andrew and therefore he was barred from coming back into the country. That’s the security services doing their job.”
Asked about reports that the man had met Lord David Cameron and Baroness Theresa May and has his picture taken with them, Dame Angela said “photographs aren’t necessarily any more meaningful than photographs”.
“We all get photographed with a lot of people in political jobs, and we meet many, many people, but I think that’s why our security services are always vigilant and that’s the day job that we pay them to do,” she said.
Asked why the man’s friendship with Andrew would be of use to a spy, she said spies are “not short-termists” and sometimes establish friendships with people of influence over “many, many years”.
On Friday, a statement from Andrew’s office said: “The Duke of York followed advice from His Majesty’s 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. He is unable to comment further on matters relating to national security.”
A spokesman for Lady May said: “Baroness May and her husband, Sir Philip, are photographed at numerous events in any given year; as such, she doesn’t remember when or where this particular photograph was taken or the man in question.”
It is the latest of a string of controversies for Andrew, most notably his close friendship with convicted paedophile Jeff Epstein, who died in 2019.
The duke was accused by Virginia Giuffre (nee Roberts) of having sex with her on three occasions while she was only 17. Ms Giuffre says Epstein paid her $15,000 dollars to have sex with Andrew.
But Andrew says he has no recollection of ever meeting Ms Giuffre and that he had “absolutely no memory” of a photo in which his hand is around her waist. Andrew has always vehemently denied the allegations.
In November 2019, Andrew famously told a BBC Newsnight interview that he could not have had sex with Ms Giuffre on 10 March 2001, because he was with his daughters after visiting a Pizza Express branch in Woking.
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