A Chinese agent in the British parliament.

[tim]

M I5 have issued a warning about Chinese attempts to influence British politicians. Barry Gardiner, who I know little about, managed to trouser £420,000, poor old Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Rump, only got £5,000. I wonder what kind of excuse you can give for being in the pocket of Xi.

MI5 warning over 'Chinese agent' in Parliament

Barry, ironically, was only yesterday making it clear that he has strong views about the integrity of others.




What an absolute shit

 

[Ax^]

 

[killer b]

Gardiner is a massive crook, and his dodgy connections with this chinese spy (though I suppose not that she was a spy) has been known about for years. He's also friendly with the Indian fascists iirc. Busy.

 

[killer b]

A shame as for most of us our first sighting of him was during the 2017 general election when he was a great performer in debates and the like. Like pretty much everything he's been a terrible disappointment since then.

 

[Ax^]

hmm seeming as Boris is always skint as to many kids to mention, how easy could he be exploited if you wanted to

 

[MickiQ]

How is giving a politician £420K not considered a bribe?

 

[Magnus McGinty]

If true, MI5 have been slow on the trigger.

 

[Ax^]

How is giving a politician £420K not considered a bribe?

depend if he used it to decorate a flat or not

 

[DaveCinzano]

If true, MI5 have been slow on the trigger.

Couldn't find the keys for the holdall

 

[ItWillNeverWork]

I vaguely remember an interview a while back where Barry Gardiner was refusing to condemn the Uyghur genocide. I may be misremembering that, but it was something similar.

 

[platinumsage]

The questions is - why come out with this today? She's a very familiar face and none of this is any surprise.

 

[killer b]

gosh i wonder.

 

[ItWillNeverWork]

Check out the beaming smile just at the mention of China. Like a schoolboy in love for the first time .



It also seems he is the sort to wear wacky ties and pronunce the word 'issue' with an 's' rather than a 'sh'. Not to be trused on that point alone, if you ask me.

 

[steveseagull]

He has just done an hour long phone in on Iain Dales' show on LBC.

Handled it well. Fessed up he had got screwed over by someone he considered a mate. Many calls supportive of him.

Imagine the wanker in No 10 doing that. Me neither.

 

[killer b]

Fessed up he had got screwed over by someone he considered a mate.

claimed he had got screwed over by someone he considered a mate.

 

[tim]

He has just done an hour long phone in on Iain Dales' show on LBC.

Handled it well. Fessed up he had got screwed over by someone he considered a mate. Many calls supportive of him.

Imagine the wanker in No 10 doing that. Me neither.

I wish someone would screw me over by giving me a £400,000 bung. Did the wanker in Brent say what he gave his mate's mates in return?

 

[NoXion]

£5000? Lib Dems are fucking cheap as hell.

 

[elbows]

More broadly there are loads of concerns about All Party Parliamentary Groups and the things they can be used for. Sometimes these have surfaced in the press, though I dont have examples to hand.

Last flickered across my radar when Amess got killed because he chaired a Qatar APPG.

 

[quimcunx]

apart from the timing I'm a bit confused about why we are being 'warned' at all. It's all a bit weirdly public.

 

[tim]

£5000? Lib Dems are fucking cheap as hell.

They're laughing all the way to the bank

 

[steveseagull]

I wish someone would screw me over by giving me a £400,000 bung. Did the wanker in Brent say what he gave his mate's mates in return?

It was spread over a number of years and was put towards the funding of his constituency office from what he said.

Easily checkable I guess.

 

[tim]

He didn't discuss Labour Party policy in any great detail with her; he has at times been fairly critical of the Chinese and he's very angry that she gave him so much money.

Christine Lee: Labour MP Barry Gardiner says Chinese agent 'gained no political advantage' from him

In an exclusive interview with Sky News, Brent North MP Barry Gardiner denies he feels "a fool" following the revelation that Christine Lee - who donated hundreds of thousands of pounds to him - has been engaged in "political interference activities".

news.sky.com

 

[steveseagull]

Wonder what she was after from Sir Ed Davey MP?

 

[tim]

Wonder what she was after from Sir Ed Davey MP?

His little orange mallet.

 

[marty21]

Apparently this spy was giving to the Tories as well , I'm trying to imagine a meeting with her handlers ...


"Here's £500k , go find someone with influence , someone in the heart of government, someone powerful who will protect our interests and supply us with information. "


"I gave you £500k and you gave me Barry Fucking Gardiner?"

 

[Dom Traynor]

New Zealand literally had a Chinese government spy master in parliament on the Tory benches when they were last in power. I think it's safe to assume they will have people in a range of parties in parliament in any country of strategic interest to them.

It would have been a realistic bet that Gardiner wouldve been in a Corbyn cabinet if one had ever come about and then the investment would start to pay off.

 

[philosophical]

Gardiner said he was appraised today that the lady in question had been acting illegally.
As far as I can tell she does not have diplomatic immunity, so why hasn't she been arrested and charged?
Her profile is well know including photographs with Xi Jingpin, her payments have been declared, and she has a profile amongst parliamentarians, and the secret service.
If Christine Lee is a spy in the traditional sense then I would mark her as a '0' for being clandestine and not much more for secrecy. If she is a sleeper trying to cultivate and influence...has she broken any law, and is anybody surprised that she is promoting China?
Pretty rubbish spy if everybody has know about her for years, except I suppose if she is suddenly arrested tomorrow and charged with something or other.
The story is a Chinese national has, surprise surprise, been lobbying people of supposed influence for the benefit of China, is that espionage these days?
To my mind it is a dead cat story for obvious reasons, but I will take that all back if she is arrested, charged and convicted.

 

[elbows]

Well keep in mind that the term used was agent, and there are various forms of that. And when it comes to rules being broken, the BBC story included this:

The allegation here is interference - covertly gaining influence - and not espionage (stealing secrets).

And one concern from security officials is that there are not the laws in place to be able to tackle interference.

As a result, they sometimes believe that going public - as they have done in this case - is the best way of disrupting any ongoing risk.

 

[Gromit]

How is giving a politician £420K not considered a bribe?

The Americans prefer the term lobbying.
Or campaign contributions.

 

[elbows]

The UK normally prefers that term too, but there are special occasions where the language can be upgraded, especially if a large, powerful nation that we've fallen out with is involved.