MI5 Director General Ken McCallum during his annual speech at Thames House, the headquarters of the UK Security Service in London on October 16, 2025. PHOTO: Jonathan Brady / PA Images / Profimedia
Britain's MI5 security service warned parliamentarians in London on Tuesday about attempts by Chinese agents to gather intelligence and influence the work of the legislature, according to an email sent to lawmakers and seen by Reuters, the news agency noting that this is the latest espionage threat to the national parliament.
The warning came after prosecutors dropped the case against two Britons accused of spying on members of parliament for China in September because investigators said the British government had not provided enough evidence to show Beijing posed a national security threat.
Lindsay Hoyle, Speaker of the House of Commons, and his counterpart in the House of Lords shared a new “spy alert” issued by security services to warn them of the threat posed by Chinese spies.
Hoyle said China's Ministry of State Security is “actively reaching out to people in our community” and wants to “gather information and build long-term relationships using professional networking sites, recruitment agencies and consultants acting on its behalf.”
He warned that two people were known to be contacting people on LinkedIn to “conduct large-scale outreach on behalf” of the Chinese government.
China's embassy in London did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The warning came after MI5 claimed in October that Chinese spies were creating fake job adverts to try to lure British professionals into providing them with information.
MI5 claims thousands of suspicious job adverts have been posted on online recruitment platforms.
Ken McCallum, director general of MI5, also said in a speech that Chinese spies were a daily threat to national security.
In January 2022, MI5 issued an alert about barrister Christine Lee, claiming she was “engaged in political interference activities” in the UK on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party, which is in power in Beijing.
Lee later sued MI5 in an attempt to clear his name, but lost the case.
