The Times — 18 October 2025

Too little attention is being paid to the Official Secrets Act 1911 provision under which, purportedly, China had to be designated as an enemy for a prosecution to proceed (“China and MI5 berate Labour over spying case”, Oct 17). The relevant wording states: “If any person for any purpose prejudicial to the safety or interests of the State … obtains or communicates to any other person any … document or information which … might be … directly or indirectly useful to an enemy; he shall be guilty of felony.”

Whether or not China was regarded as an enemy at the time, the sensitive nature of the material made its disclosure to the Chinese felonious because it could then have been passed to another country whose status as an enemy was not in doubt. The attorney-general could have proceeded with the prosecution, had he been guided by law rather than political expediency.

Sir JULIAN LEWIS MP
Chairman, Defence Committee, 2015-19
House of Commons
London SW1A 0AA