Holyrood MSPs and their staff have been warned against accepting suspicious baubles or free puppies from potential foreign agents. Just weeks after Westminster was rocked by claims of an alleged Chinese spy working in Parliament, all Holyrood staff have been sent an email invitation to an anti-espionage briefing with spooks from the National Protective Security Authority, the National Authority for Counter-Eavesdropping and the National Cyber Security Centre. The invitation reads a bit like wartime propaganda:
“Dear Members and Members’ staff
Have you ever wondered what could be lurking in your benign-looking gift? Ever wondered why, on an official trip abroad, your room gets upgraded free of charge?
ESPIONAGE!
It doesn’t just happen to someone else, it could happen to you.
We’d like to invite you and your staff to a briefing on all things espionage, easvedropping [sic] and what we can do collectively to manage these risks…”
Meanwhile, back in SW1, Chinese officials are about to arrive for Rishi’s AI summit…
Hat-tip: James Heale
Worth reading closely the legalistic wording of this statement provided to the Sun by “Agent COB”:
“The claim that he was an agent, asset or informer for any intelligence agency is entirely false and a ridiculous smear. Like other MPs, Jeremy has met diplomats from many countries. In the 1980s he met a Czech diplomat, who did not go by the name of Jan Dymic, for a cup of tea in the House of Commons. Jeremy neither had nor offered any privileged information to this or any other diplomat.”
Jezza says he “neither had nor offered” any “privileged information” to the Czech spy. That is denying something different. The Czech secret police files claim Corbyn gave them a newspaper article about MI5 and discussed his take on British security measures, neither of which would count as “privileged“. There is no denial from Corbyn that he passed information to Britain’s enemies at the height of the Cold War. What did he talk to them about? Was he really naive enough to believe this was just a “diplomat”? Many questions to answer…
