Alleged Chinese spy linked to Prince Andrew ‘tip of iceberg’

LONDON: 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 on 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.

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.