MI5 has warned that Chinese intelligence officers are posing as recruiters on LinkedIn and using headhunting firms to target people who work in the UK Parliament. The alert follows the collapse of a prosecution against two Britons accused of spying for Beijing, which prosecutors said could not proceed because Britain had not designated China an "enemy" under the Official Secrets Act 1911. Ministers and security officials describe the activity as part of a pattern of hostile interference; China has rejected the claims. The notice also feeds into broader debates about national security, diplomatic ties, and a pending planning decision for a new Chinese embassy in London.
MI5 Warns Chinese Operatives Posing as Recruiters on LinkedIn Are Targeting UK Parliament
MI5 has warned that Chinese intelligence officers are posing as recruiters on LinkedIn and using headhunting firms to target people who work in the UK Parliament. The alert follows the collapse of a prosecution against two Britons accused of spying for Beijing, which prosecutors said could not proceed because Britain had not designated China an "enemy" under the Official Secrets Act 1911. Ministers and security officials describe the activity as part of a pattern of hostile interference; China has rejected the claims. The notice also feeds into broader debates about national security, diplomatic ties, and a pending planning decision for a new Chinese embassy in London.
08:06 AM, 11/19/2025Security
Britain's domestic security service, MI5, has warned Members of Parliament that agents from China's Ministry of State Security (MSS) are posing as recruiters on platforms such as LinkedIn to cultivate relationships with people who work in Parliament.
Alert to MPs
The warning, circulated to MPs by House of Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle, said the MSS is using social and professional networking sites and third-party headhunting firms to gather sensitive information on the UK to gain a strategic advantage. MI5 named two headhunting operations it says have used LinkedIn profiles to "conduct outreach at scale" on Beijing's behalf.
"This activity involves a covert and calculated attempt by a foreign power to interfere with our sovereign affairs in favour of its own interests, and this government will not tolerate it," Security Minister Dan Jarvis told Parliament.
Official responses and denials
The Chinese embassy in London dismissed the allegations as "pure fabrication and malicious slander," urging the UK to "stop this self-staged charade of false accusations" and warning that such claims damage bilateral relations.
Context: collapsed prosecutions and legal limits
The alert comes weeks after prosecutors abruptly abandoned a case against two British men — Christopher Cash, a former parliamentary researcher, and Christopher Berry, an academic — who had been accused of spying for Beijing. Prosecutors said the government's case lacked a "critical element": under the Official Secrets Act 1911 prosecutions require that the information passed would be useful to an "enemy," and the UK had not designated China as such. That legal constraint was cited as the reason the charges could not proceed.
Downing Street said no current minister, government member, or special adviser was implicated. Prime Minister Keir Starmer pointed to the previous Conservative government, which was in office when the alleged offences occurred, saying past policy language had been carefully worded and that responsibility lay with that administration.
Wider security concerns
MI5 Director General Ken McCallum has described espionage linked to China as a daily national security threat. In his annual threat update he said the National Security Act 2023 addressed "longstanding weaknesses" in UK law and strengthened the country's ability to respond to state-backed threats.
Jarvis said the use of headhunters to approach MPs "builds on a pattern" of hostile activity, pointing to earlier incidents where actors linked to Beijing targeted parliamentarians' emails in 2021 and to alleged interference involving a British lawyer, Christine Lee, in 2022.
Political fallout and planning decisions
The MI5 notice arrives as ministers weigh whether to approve plans for a large new Chinese embassy in London. The planning decision was delayed after parts of the proposals were submitted with blacked-out areas; critics say the complex could present security concerns. Conservative shadow security minister Alicia Kearns urged the government to refuse permission for the embassy and to cancel planned ministerial visits to China.
This episode has intensified debate over how the UK balances defending itself against foreign espionage and interference while maintaining economic ties with China, the world's second-largest economy.