MI5 chief Ken McCallum has been giving his annual speech on threats to the UK, in which he said state actors including China are an increasing problem. He added that MI5 foiled a threat from China within the last week alone…
McCallum said the country has to “defend itself resolutely” against China:
“The UK-China relationship is, by its nature, complex, but MI5’s role is not: we detect and deal, robustly, with activity threatening national security. When it comes to China, the UK needs to defend itself resolutely against threats and seize the opportunities that demonstrably serve our nation.“
McCallum said China engages in “cyber espionage,” “clandestine technology transfer,” efforts to “interfere covertly in UK public life,” and the “harassment and intimidation of opponents.” He said China, Russia, and Iran are “fast-rising state threats” which are responsible for a 35% increase in threats from state actors in a year…
Asked about the spy case’s collapse, he said: “Of course I am frustrated when opportunities to prosecute national security- threatening activity are not followed through, for whatever reason. I would invite everyone to not miss the fact that this was a strong disruption in the interest of the UK’s national security.” These are not the comments of someone in agreement with Downing Street…
Former Treasury minister and adviser to Burnham in the Makerfield campaign Lord Jim O’Neill, who has turned down a role in his government, said Burnham’s first statement Commons was:
“The last thing investors wanted to hear… gilt yields have risen by a 0.25% in one day, which is a lot. We’ve not had that since Liz Truss days… If your country is under the focus of ‘can they come up with a sensible fiscal strategy’ on a day when the markets think ‘well no, you’re not showing any sign of it’ you’re going to have a tough day…if it stays like this your mortgage rate is going up.”