Did an alleged ‘Chinese spy’ help this senior Tory MP get her role on the foreign affairs committee?

• An alleged ‘Chinese spy’ was ‘part of’ Tory MP Alicia Kearn’s campaign team 
• The MP campaigned against rival Tories to get on the foreign affairs committee 

A senior Tory MP became chairman of the foreign affairs committee with help from an alleged ‘Chinese spy’, it was claimed today. 

Sources told the Mail that the parliamentary researcher, in his twenties, was ‘part of’ Alicia Kearn’s campaign team and ‘followed her around like a flunkey’.

She is also alleged to have won the chairmanship in part due to her ‘woke’ sympathies.

Ms Kearns was elected to lead the committee last October after defeating fellow Tories Sir Iain Duncan Smith, Dr Liam Fox and Richard Graham.

The election was triggered when Tom Tugendhat was appointed Security Minister, leaving a vacancy at the top of the prestigious committee.

Sources told the Mail that the alleged ‘Chinese spy’, in his twenties, was ‘part of’ Alicia Kearn’s (pictured) campaign team and ‘followed her around like a flunkey’

Alicia Kearns was elected to lead the committee last October in an election that was triggered when Tom Tugendhat (pictured) was appointed Security Minister

But in what one Westminster source branded a ‘bad tempered’ campaign, Ms Kearns was supported by Labour grandee Harriet Harman in gaining the votes of Labour MPs.

READ MORE: Revealed: ‘Chinese spy’ who worked as parliamentary researcher is sporty son of GP who went to public school

Senior Conservatives told the Mail that the campaign ‘wasn’t just about China’ but that Ms Kearns let it be known that she was supportive of opposition MPs’ stance on the ‘woke agenda’.

Another said she is ‘on the Left’ of the party and labelled her ‘a Wet’.

She won the chairmanship with 241 votes – beating Dr Fox in second place with 200 votes. Sir Iain was knocked out in the third round.

But it was reported at the time that despite Dr Fox and Sir Iain pausing their campaigns in the wake of the death of the late Queen, Ms Kearns was spotting ‘lobbying’ MPs.

Writing in today’s Mail, former Tory cabinet minister Nadine Dorries said Ms Kearns’ appointment ‘came as a surprise to many of us’.

‘Others, who were far more experienced and alert to the dangers from hostile powers – including the wise and knowledgeable Iain Duncan Smith – had stood unsuccessfully against her,’ Ms Dorries wrote.

‘Now the link between Kearns and the alleged spy – who apparently lobbied his extensive network to support her appointment – is raising more eyebrows in the Commons.

The alleged ‘Chinese spy’ worked as parliamentary researcher and is the son of a GP who went to public school

The arrest of a parliamentary researcher under the Official Secrets Act revived debates about the UK’s relationship with Beijing, with some Tory MPs pushing Rishi Sunak to label China a ‘threat’

‘Her appointment was a travesty. Now I fear that electing someone as inexperienced and, frankly, as unsuitable as Alicia to the role may well come back to haunt us.’

Reliance on Chinese tuition fees rapped

Efforts to reduce UK universities’ dependence on China have come to a halt or gone backwards, a report warned yesterday.

With international diversity among students falling, many universities have been left ‘reliant on a very small number of markets’. The report, led by former universities minister Lord [Jo] Johnson, said the challenges of ‘de-risking’ higher education with China were considerable.

Lord Johnson, a visiting professor at the Policy Institute at King’s College London, said: ‘The sector continues to follow a ‘cross your fingers’ strategy that decoupling is… never necessary for China, in the same ways it was for relations with Russia in February 2022.’ He said the Government ‘must urgently help’ universities manage ‘risks to national security from bad-faith actors and the dangers of over-reliance on a single country’.

The proportion of full-time Chinese doctoral entrants – the largest group of international scholars at English universities – has risen from 17 per cent in 2017/18 to 28 per cent in 2021/22.

It emerged over the weekend that a parliamentary researcher with links to several senior Conservatives – including Ms Kearns and Mr Tugendhat – was arrested on suspicion of spying for Beijing.

The arrest of a parliamentary researcher under the Official Secrets Act revived debates about the UK’s relationship with Beijing, with some Tory MPs pushing Rishi Sunak to label China a ‘threat’.

Confirmation of the arrest came only weeks after James Cleverly became the first Foreign Secretary in five years to visit China, amid efforts to develop more pragmatic ties with the country.

Mr Sunak yesterday insisted that Mr Cleverly raised the issue of Chinese interference in UK democratic institutions during his recent trip and that he had ‘reinforced this’ at the G20 summit in India.

But MPs have questioned whether it took reports of the arrest in March to be made public for the Prime Minister to raise concerns.

Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden signalled that ministers could consider a tougher stance on China in the wake of the row.

He told MPs on Monday that there is a ‘strong case’ for designating China in the ‘enhanced tier’ of countries under the new National Security Act.

Ms Kearns has been approached for comment.

The unnamed man at the centre of the allegations has insisted he is completely innocent. In a statement released through his lawyers, the researcher said that he had spent his career highlighting the ‘challenge and threats presented by the Chinese Communist Party’. 

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