A BBC journalist is under investigation by the secret security services over China spying allegations, sources have claimed to The Mail on Sunday.
The journalist is said to have cultivated potential targets for the hostile state, while working as a reporter in Brussels for a different media outlet. The person remains employed by the BBC, which has refused a request for comment.
Last night, Shadow Foreign Secretary Dame Priti Patel called for an urgent resolution to the investigation to establish whether the BBC was ‘actively undermining the security of country’.
She said: ‘China is a threat to Britain and anyone attempting to undermine the security of our country and the security organisations which keep us and our allies safe must be fully investigated.’
Sources say the reporter used his position as a journalist before he worked at the BBC to target senior individuals in Brussels-based international organisations.
He is alleged to have targeted those with knowledge of sensitive military intelligence. It is claimed his tactics included attempting to ‘honeytrap’ senior officials in these institutions.
While the investigation is at an early stage, three agencies are understood to be examining ‘sexual overtures’ made by him to high-level individuals.
They are still trying to work out what secrets he may have been able to feed back to China about Western security services.
The person remains employed by the BBC, which has refused a request for comment (stock image)
The investigation, which is known to the ‘Five Eyes’ international intelligence sharing partnership that includes MI5, is now piecing together the extent of any impact on national security.
According to insiders, there is a dawning realisation that he may have been able to penetrate the security apparatus much deeper than first thought.
After leaving Brussels, the journalist was hired by the BBC.
‘This raises serious questions about the way the BBC checks the background of their staff, which yet again questions its governance and poor standards,’ Dame Priti said.
It comes amid growing alarm over how Labour is handling the threat posed by an advanced Chinese spying machine.
Ministers sparked fury after collapsing the trial of two men accused of spying for Beijing, and the chaos over a previously denied Chinese mega embassy in the heart of London further shows Labour’s inability to grasp the threat posed by China.
And last month The Mail on Sunday exposed national security adviser Jonathan Powell as a senior member of shadowy lobby club China allegedly ‘uses to groom UK elite’.
A Cabinet Office source said Mr Powell is not now nor has he ever been a member of the 48 Group, despite his name being listed as a fellow on its website.
The BBC individual under investigation did not respond to requests for comment.
