LONDON — As new details surface from MI5’s counter-intelligence probe into two men accused of gathering information on Conservative China-sceptic MPs, The Sunday Times reports that the White House has privately warned Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government that Britain’s failure to prosecute the alleged Chinese spies could jeopardize U.S.–UK intelligence sharing within the Five Eyes alliance. U.S. officials told the paper that the abrupt collapse of the high-profile espionage case — involving parliamentary researcher Chris Cash and China-based academic Christopher Berry, who was reportedly intercepted returning to Britain with encrypted communications apps used exclusively by Chinese intelligence operatives — has shaken Washington’s confidence in London’s reliability on counter-espionage cooperation.
