Britain’s top spook today vowed he would never back down from tackling the security threat posed by China, as he expressed frustration over the collapse of a high-profile spying case against two Westminster researchers.
MI5 Director General Sir Ken McCallum also spoke of his frustration over the collapse of the Chinese spying case, saying the operation which led to charges against two men was a “strong” disruption.
Speaking at his annual threat assessment at MI5’s Thames House headquarters, Sir Ken said that China remains a state threat to Britain along with Russia and Iran.
‘I Will Never Back Off’
Addressing the specific menace from China in his annual threat assessment, Sir Ken said: “I am MI5 born and bred. I will never back down from confronting threats to the UK, wherever they come from.”
His defiant comments follow controversy over the CPS decision to drop the spying prosecution of China Research think tank director Christopher Cash, 30, and Parliamentary researcher Christopher Berry, 33.
The CPS say they were forced to discontinue the Official Secrets Act prosecution because the Government would not provide a statement declaring China as a recognised enemy. Both men were suspected of handing over secrets to a shadowy Chinese agent named “Alex.”
Political Controversy
Sir Keir Starmer has been accused of trying to appease the Chinese regime for economic reasons following the collapse of the case.
But the PM has blamed the previous Tory Government for failing to declare China as an enemy under the law.
Glaswegian Security Service boss Sir Ken told reporters after his threat assessment speech that he was “frustrated” when opportunities to prosecute activity against UK security “are not followed through.”
He stressed it was not the responsibility of MI5 to bring prosecutions and pointed out that it was “far from unprecedented” for successful disruptions not to end up in court.
‘Strong Disruption’
But Sir Ken said of the operation which led to the arrests of Cash and Berry: “This was a strong disruption in the interests of UK national security.”
Speaking of the continuing threat from Chinese state actors, Sir Ken revealed in his speech that MI5 had “intervened operationally” in a suspected plot against UK interests only last week but declined to provide further details.
Asked directly whether China posed a national security threat, Sir Ken was unequivocal: “Do Chinese state actors present a UK national security threat? The answer is of course yes they do, every day.”
Complex But Clear Mission
Sir Ken said the UK-China relationship is “by its nature complex” but added that “MI5’s role is not,” adding: “We detect and deal robustly with activity threatening national security.”
The security chief said the form of threats from China included cyber espionage, targeting universities and academics and trying to undermine UK public life.
He also pointed to the harassment of UK-based dissidents with Hong Kong police issuing bounties against pro-democracy activists here.
Sir Ken said: “When it comes to China, the UK needs to defend itself resolutely against threats and seize the opportunities that demonstrably serve our nation.”
Rising State Threats
He revealed that MI5 are now investigating a third more people suspected of working for hostile states than a year ago, representing a 35 per cent increase in state threat investigations.
The MI5 chief painted a stark picture of multiple overlapping threats, saying the UK faces challenges “on an unprecedented scale” from both terror groups and hostile states.
“In 2025, a more hostile world is forcing the biggest shift in MI5’s mission since 9/11,” Sir Ken warned, noting that state actors are increasingly using “ugly methods” previously associated with terrorism, including surveillance, sabotage, arson and physical violence.
Russia’s Sabotage Campaign
Sir Ken warned that Russia was still using sabotage and intimidation against the West as it struggles to defeat Ukrainian resistance.
He said Russia-based figures were trying and mainly failing “to sow the seeds of violence, chaos and division here in the UK.”
Poorly-trained proxies motivated by money and the thrill of spying are being exploited and swiftly discarded by Russia, Sir Ken said.
In the last year we and the police have disrupted a steady stream of surveillance plots with hostile intent, aimed at individuals Russian leaders perceive as their enemies,” he revealed.
Iran’s Lethal Plots
The MI5 boss also spoke of Iran’s continuing threat to dissidents and Jews here and revealed how the service had investigated more than 20 “potentially lethal” Iran-backed plots in the last year.
Iran is frantically trying to silence its opponents around the world,” Sir Ken said, warning that Iranian state actors make extensive use of criminals as proxies, from international drug traffickers to low-level crooks.
He issued a stark warning to those tempted to work for hostile states: “If you take money from Iran, Russia or any other state to carry out illegal acts in the UK, you will bring the full weight of the national security apparatus down on you. It’s a choice you’ll regret.”
Terrorism Threat Remains Intense
Sir Ken said escalating foreign state threats “in a more hostile world” had forced the biggest shift in MI5’s mission since the 9/11 attacks of 2001, which heralded the rise of Islamic-inspired terrorism.
He stressed that MI5’s prime task was the fight against terrorism which “remains intense” as his teams run “near-record” volumes of investigations.
Sir Ken said MI5 have disrupted 19 late-stage attack plots since the start of 2020 and intervened in hundreds more developing threats.
He warned that the remnants of Al-Qaeda and Islamic State were regrouping and “becoming more ambitious” to take advantage of international tensions.
“They are both personally encouraging and indirectly inciting would-be attackers in the West,” Sir Ken said.
Online Radicalisation Concerns
He said the world wide web was fuelling the problem, saying: “Terrorism breeds in squalid corners of the internet where poisonous ideologies, of whatever sort, meet volatile, often chaotic individual lives.”
Sir Ken said the online environment was blurring motives behind attacks making it hard to tell whether they are inspired by terrorist ideology or by individual grievance and mental illness.
One in five of the 232 terrorism arrests last year were of children under 17, he revealed, highlighting the concerning trend of younger individuals being drawn into extremism.
The security chief also warned about the potential future threat from artificial intelligence, saying: “Artificial intelligence may never ‘mean’ us harm. But it would be reckless to ignore the potential for it to cause harm.”
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Image Credit:
Ken McCallum — photo from Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY 4.0
