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Counterterrorism police raided the home of a journalist in Cardiff on Wednesday afternoon as part of their probe into individuals suspected of spying for China, according to people familiar with the matter.
The journalist works for the Nation.Cymru website and police took away their phone and laptop during the raid, the people said. The journalist could not be immediately reached for comment. Nation.Cymru declined to comment.
London’s Metropolitan Police said its officers arrested three men over claims they assisted Beijing’s intelligence services. All three were advisers to the Labour Party in the early 2010s, the FT reported.
One of the men is David Taylor, the husband of Labour MP Joani Reid. None of the trio has been charged. They were released on bail.
The Met said it had searched addresses where the three men were arrested but also “three other addresses in London, East Kilbride and Cardiff respectively”.
The Nation.Cymru journalist is not one of the men who was arrested. They have previously spoken online about visiting China and praised the country’s economic system. They also criticised pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong.
The Metropolitan Police did not immediately respond to a request to comment on the search. The investigation has been undertaken by Counterterrorism Policing London, part of the Met.
The police investigation has caused embarrassment in the Labour Party at a time when Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has sought to improve relations with Beijing while fending off claims he is too soft on China.
The Met said on Wednesday they had arrested a 39-year-old man in London, a 68-year-old man in Powys, Wales, and a 43-year-old man in Pontyclun, Wales.
Taylor, 39, is named in Reid’s parliamentary register of interests as a family member engaged in third-party lobbying with regard to his role as director of the company Earthcott Ltd. He was also previously a special adviser to former Welsh secretary Peter Hain.
Reid, the MP for East Kilbride and Strathaven, said in a statement: “I have never seen anything to make me suspect my husband has broken any law.
“I am not part of my husband’s business activities and neither I nor my children are part of this investigation.”
Security minister Dan Jarvis told the House of Commons on Wednesday that the investigation related to “foreign interference targeting UK democracy”, and said British officials had made formal representations to their Chinese counterparts in both London and Beijing over the matter.
Additional reporting by Cynthia O’Murchu