My involvement in the Chinese spying ‘scandal’

Martin Shipton

Having one’s front door smashed in at 6.20am is not the best way to start any day – nor is the arrival of an eight-strong team from the counter-terrorism division of the Metropolitan Police as part of an investigation into spying for China.

On the morning of Wednesday March 4 my wife and I were woken up by loud banging, accompanied by someone shouting: “Michael, Michael.”

When I pointed out that nobody of that name lived in the house, the shouter said: “We’re coming in!”, and the door was smashed open.

It was an utterly terrifying experience, and one that I don’t hope to repeat.

I was served with a search warrant signed by a judge at the Old Bailey, under the National Security Act 2023, authorising the officers to search my home for:

* Telephones or any form of mobile communication device, including any devices capable of connecting to the internet, and SIM cards in my possession;

* Computers and peripheral equipment, portable storage devices, CD ROMS, floppy discs, electronic information storage devices, audio or video tapes, video or still cameras in my possession;

* Travel documentation in my possession or control, including passports and other documents which may evidence travel;

* Financial documents and other documentation which indicates significant financial transactions and / or transactions from foreign jurisdictions, including material used in order to utilise cryptocurrency, in my possession;

* Material associated with a Foreign Intelligence Service, including correspondence and other documentation.

We were told that no further information could be provided, but that the search would take all day.

I was utterly bemused by what was being suggested. I have never been paid significant sums from foreign jurisdictions, let alone in cryptocurrency. In fact, I have little knowledge of cryptocurrency, beyond seeing them as dodgy investments promoted by the likes of Donald Trump and Nigel Farage.

Nor have I communicated with a Foreign Intelligence Service.

The counter-terrorism team offered to put us up in a hotel while they carried out their search, but we were concerned for our cats and declined the offer.

We were told we were free to leave and I went next door, where our kind neighbour allowed me to use her phone to make some urgent calls (my mobile had been seized and the landline had been declared out of bounds).

My editor rang me on my neighbour’s phone to tell me that the Press Association news agency had filed a story revealing that David Taylor – who I have known for more than 25 years – had been arrested on suspicion of spying for China.

Two other people had also been arrested. While they were not named by the police, it quickly became apparent that they were Steve Jones and Matt Aplin. All three – including David Taylor – had worked for the Labour Party and were now involved at the intersection between public affairs and public relations.

Political consultant

David Taylor had, to my knowledge, worked in many parts of the world as a political consultant, offering strategic advice to governments and political parties.

The knowledge of his arrest was transformational for me in the short term. From finding myself in a Kafkaesque nightmare where I was unaware of what was going on, my mind took me back three years to a trip when I accompanied David Taylor to Hong Kong.

He told me he had been contacted by a Chinese think tank based in Shanghai that advised President Xi on international relations. They wanted to set up a briefing in Hong Kong on attitudes towards China in the UK, and had asked him to bring another “expert” along too.

He asked me to go with him. It was an expenses-paid trip. It was taking place in Hong Kong rather than Shanghai because post-Covid restrictions were still in place on the Chinese mainland. I saw it as an interesting “jolly” and agreed to go.

The trip lasted around a week, although “Michael”, the think tank guy from Shanghai, turned up late.

Far from being an intensive, policy-rich series of meetings, the trip was more of a tourist visit. As the only one of the three of us who had visited Hong Kong before, I became the de facto tourist guide.

We visited a Buddhist Temple, watched a renowned fire show from Kowloon looking across the water to Hong Kong Island, went to a museum telling the story of the former colony and visited several restaurants (we had to steer him to Chinese restaurants rather than American chains like Subway and KFC, which he made it clear he would prefer).

The talk was pretty general, with Michael happy to listen to what we had to say rather than ask penetrating questions of the kind one might expect of a think tank.

A colleague of his who was supposed to show up never, in fact, did so.

At no stage did it occur to me that anything criminal was taking place. I mentioned how there was concern in the West about the treatment of the Uighurs, a Muslim minority in western China. I also said there were doubtless trading opportunities that could develop further between the UK and China.

Pretty general stuff and nothing that could be construed as constituting “espionage” in any sense.

Voluntary statement

I told the head of the search team that I would happily give a voluntary statement about the trip to Hong Kong, and that is what I did. When I was asked why I was prepared to give such a statement without the presence of a solicitor, I said I did so because I did not consider that I had done anything wrong and that I was happy to tell them about the trip.

Clearly I am not in a position to talk about other matters I have no personal knowledge of.

So to sum up – and hopefully dispel lurid rumours on social media – my house was searched but I have not been arrested, this has come completely out of left field and I have seen no evidence relating to the arrested individuals that would contravene the National Security Act 2023, and I am doing everything I can to help the police with their enquiries.

The police have agreed to pay for a new front door.

Finally, I would rather like to have my passport back so I can attend with my wife and daughter a long-anticipated concert of Christy Moore in Dublin in two weeks time.