Alleged Chinese spy had 'unusual degree of trust' with Andrew
· BBC NewsDominic Casciani
Home and Legal Correspondent
@BBCDomC
Sean Coughlan
Royal correspondent
An alleged Chinese spy who formed an "unusual degree of trust" with the Duke of York has been banned from the UK, after a judgement by the UK's semi-secret national security court.
The man, known only as H6 and described as a "close confidant" to Prince Andrew, brought an appeal against his initial ban but the decision was upheld by the court.
Judges were told the businessman was attempting to leverage Prince Andrew's influence.
Buckingham Palace declined to comment, saying they do not act for the prince, who is not a working royal.
In March 2023 H6 brought his case to the Special Immigration Appeals Commission, a court set up to consider appeals against decisions to ban or remove someone from the country on national security or related grounds.
In the published ruling, external, the judge said that the then-home secretary, Suella Braverman, was "entitled to conclude that [H6] represented a risk to the national security of the United Kingdom, and that she was entitled to conclude that his exclusion was justified and proportionate".
The ruling makes clear that the man had been subjected to the highest levels of national security investigation as someone that the UK's intelligence agencies feared was seeking influence over a member of the Royal Family.
The court was told that H6 was invited to Prince Andrew's birthday party in 2020 and was told he could act on his behalf when dealing with potential investors in China.
It's not clear how H6 became close to the Prince, but in November 2021 police officers stopped and questioned him at the UK border under powers to investigate suspicions of "hostile activity" by a foreign state.
During that stop H6 surrendered a number of electronic devices including a mobile phone.
What officers found on them so concerned the security service MI5, that Braverman used her exceptional powers to ban H6 from the country.
In a letter found on one of his devices, H6 was told by Dominic Hampshire, an adviser to Prince Andrew: "Outside of [the prince's] closest internal confidants, you sit at the very top of a tree that many, many people would like to be on."
Mr Hampshire adds: "Under your guidance, we found a way to get the relevant people unnoticed in and out of the house in Windsor."
No further details about who the "relevant people" were are given in the excerpt from the letter included in the ruling.
Mr Hampshire also confirmed to H6 that he could act for Prince Andrew in talks "with potential partners and investors in China".
A document listing "main talking points" for a call with Prince Andrew was also found.
It states: "IMPORTANT: Manage expectations. Really important to not set 'too high' expectations - he is in a desperate situation and will grab onto anything."
The court assessed that this meant H6 was in a position "to generate relationships between senior Chinese officials and prominent UK figures which could be leveraged for political interference purposes by the Chinese State".
Security chiefs feared Beijing was attempting to run an "elite capture" operation to influence the Duke of York because of the pressure he was under, a tactic which aims to appoint high profile individuals to Chinese businesses, think tanks or universities.
H6 was subsequently informed that he was believed by UK authorities to be associated with the United Front Work Department (UFWD), an arm of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) tasked with conducting influence operations.
The ruling said MI5's Director General, Ken McCallum had expressed concern about the threat posed to the UK by political interference by China and that bodies such as the UFWD were "mounting patient, well-funded, deceptive campaigns to buy and exert influence".
The Home Office said they believed H6 had been engaged in covert and deceptive activity on behalf of the CCP and that his relationship with Prince Andrew could be used for political interference.
Upholding Braverman's decision, the judges said H6 had won an "unusual degree of trust from a senior member of the Royal Family who was prepared to enter into business activities with him".
They added that the relationship had developed at a time when the prince was "under considerable pressure" which "could make him vulnerable to the misuse of that sort of influence".
The prince faced increasing scrutiny from late 2019 over his friendship with the late US financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, which included his infamous Newsnight interview in November of that year.
In a statement, the Chinese embassy in the UK criticised "baseless 'spy' stories targeting China".
"Their purpose is to smear China and disrupt normal exchanges between Chinese and British personnel," it said.
China supports "normal people-to-people and cultural exchanges with other countries", it added.
The embassy also urged the UK to "stop creating trouble" and to "stop spreading the so-called 'China threat' theory".
Past questions over Prince Andrew's connections
Prince Andrew had previously been the UK's trade envoy, but gave up the role after 10 years in 2011 after criticism over the company he kept, including Epstein.
He has previously been dogged by questions about his judgement and his finances - an issue that goes back to the loss of his status as a working royal.
In November 2019, Prince Andrew stepped back from royal duties amid growing public anger about his friendship with Epstein.
Questions were subsequently raised about his finances after he reached a settlement - believed to run into the millions - in a civil sexual assault case brought against him by Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein's accusers. The prince has always denied assaulting Ms Giuffre.
His finances have recently come under scrutiny. King Charles is no longer funding him, and there has been speculation about the running costs of Royal Lodge - the security bill alone is believed to be several million pounds per year.
The big picture of Prince Andrew's finances is full of unknowns, such as how much he might have inherited from his mother or how much private money he might have accumulated in his envoy days.
Concerns over wider Chinese influence in the UK
Former security minister Tom Tugendhat described Prince Andrew's association with the Chinese businessman as "extremely embarrassing", but told the BBC the Chinese state's ambition is "to secure influence over foreign countries at various different points," including the UK.
He said the UFWD was seeking influence in the UK across social, academic, industrial and financial sectors and China has "engaged very often in espionage".
He added that it was possible in this case the goal could have been to secure influence and "inspire somebody to say something, do something or perhaps just host an event where you can be close to somebody you want to pressure".
Additional reporting by Jacqueline Howard & Christy Cooney
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