Welsh Labour MP calls for urgent review of UK embassy contractors

A Welsh Labour MP has called for an urgent review of UK embassy contractors.

Chris Bryant, who represents Rhondda, has spoken out following the arrest of a British embassy employee, who was working in Berlin, on suspicion of spying for Russia.

A 57-year-old British national, who has been identified by authorities only as David S, was detained on Tuesday following a joint investigation by British and German authorities.

According to German Federal Prosecutor’s Office the man is suspected of selling documents obtained during the course of his work to “a representative of a Russian intelligence service”.

A UK Government spokesperson has said the suspect had been “contracted to work for the Government”.

He was arrested in the city of Potsdam, to the south-west of Berlin, and is being held under German law on suspicion of engaging in “intelligence agent activity”.

Bryant, who is chair of the all-party parliamentary Russia group, told the Daily Telegraph the UK Government “must review the security of all contractors at UK embassies as a matter of urgency”.

‘Most serious’ 

He also described the arrest as potentially “one of the most serious security breaches at a UK embassy for many years”.

The Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood, who is chair of the Commons Defence Select Committee, has also called on the UK Government to review the security of all contractors working at UK embassies.

He described it as “standard protocol following such an incident”

Germany’s Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has told reporters: “Spying on a close ally on German soil is absolutely unacceptable and we are in full solidarity with our British friends.

“We will be following the federal prosecutors’ further investigations very closely. And where that’s desired, necessary and possible, we will also support them.”