No new information on spying allegations but ‘knickers twisted of the Beijing bashers’
Has parliament been infiltrated by Chinese agents? Frankly, I can’t see it. Gathered in the Commons to discuss the suspected threat were ministers concerned with security; shadow ministers concerned by the lack of it; the China hawks on both sides; and, along the back row of the public gallery, a line of men in Red Guard uniforms taking copious notes. A gong sounded and Lindsay Hoyle stood up.
Now then, he said, it’s a troubling matter; an open investigation; say nowt. This was the line endorsed by Oliver Dowden, the Deputy Prime Minister, whose ministerial statement contained no new information yet still twisted the knickers of the Beijing bashers behind him.
But until we’re told the precise nature of these allegations against a young, male researcher who may or may not be a spy, it’s simply impossible to judge their seriousness or their accuracy.
One reads that he flirted with a female journalist on a dating app, showing off about his knowledge of China, and that, I’ll grant you, should’ve rung an alarm bell. Whoever heard of a parliamentary researcher being straight?