Britain’s Parliament has been thrown into a state of high alert after the country’s domestic intelligence agency, MI5, issued a stark warning that Chinese state actors are actively targeting lawmakers and government staff through professional networking sites like LinkedIn. The November 18, 2025, alert, circulated by House of Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle and his counterpart in the House of Lords, Lord McFall, identified two profiles—Amanda Qiu and Shirly Shen—operating as fronts for China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS).
MI5’s warning, described by Hoyle as an “espionage alert,” detailed how Chinese nationals are “using LinkedIn profiles to conduct outreach at scale” in a bid to gather insider information and cultivate long-term relationships within the British political establishment. According to the BBC, the alert explained that the MSS was leveraging civilian recruitment headhunters, professional networking sites, recruitment agents, and consultants to build links with targets across Parliament and beyond.
Security minister Dan Jarvis addressed MPs soon after the alert was made public, declaring, “Our intelligence agencies have warned that China is attempting to recruit and cultivate individuals with access to sensitive information about Parliament and the UK government.” He added, “This activity involves a covert and calculated attempt by a foreign power to interfere with our sovereign affairs in favour of its own interests, and this government will not tolerate it.”
The MI5 alert painted a picture of a sophisticated campaign: not just online messaging, but also offers of all-expenses paid trips to China and payments for information, sometimes via cash or even cryptocurrency. The list of targets is broad, including parliamentary staff, economists, think tank employees, geopolitical consultants, MPs, and members of the House of Lords. The aim, as stated by Hoyle, is to “collect information and lay the groundwork for long-term relationships, using professional networking sites, recruitment agents and consultants acting on their behalf.”
Images of the LinkedIn profiles in question, published by the BBC, show professional headshots and plausible job descriptions—one claiming to be a “Global Headhunter” and co-founder of an internship company, the other the CEO of an executive search firm. Yet, as the MI5 alert warns, these public-facing personas are mere fronts for espionage. The BBC noted that it is not clear if the women named and pictured are the actual people behind the accounts.
The government’s response was swift. Jarvis announced a £170 million package to upgrade encrypted technology for government business and to bolster protections against Chinese cybercrime and attempts to influence university research. He also laid out plans for a new Counter Political Interference and Espionage Action Plan, which will see intelligence services working with professional networking sites to make them more hostile to spies, as well as providing security briefings and new guidance to all political parties and election candidates ahead of next May’s elections in Scotland, Wales, and across England.
“We will take all necessary measures to protect our national interests, our citizens and our democratic way of life,” Jarvis told the Commons, as reported by The Independent. He also highlighted that China has a “low threshold” for what information is useful, as it attempts to build a broader picture of the UK’s political and economic landscape.
But the warning did not go unchallenged. The Chinese embassy in the UK hit back, calling the allegations “pure fabrication” and a “self-staged charade.” In a strongly worded statement, the embassy said, “We strongly condemn such despicable moves of the UK side and have lodged stern representations with them.” The statement urged the UK to “stop going further down the wrong path of undermining China-UK relations.”
The episode has reignited longstanding concerns about Chinese influence in British politics. The latest alert follows a string of incidents, including MI5’s 2022 warning about Christine Lee, a London-based lawyer accused of facilitating covert donations to British politicians on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party’s United Front Work Department. Lee denied the allegations, but the case underscored the breadth of China’s attempts to wield influence in the UK.
More recently, in September 2025, a high-profile espionage case against two men accused of spying for China collapsed. One of the men had worked as a parliamentary researcher. Both denied any wrongdoing, and the Crown Prosecution Service said the case could not proceed because the government’s deputy national security adviser was unwilling to classify China as an active threat to UK national security. The collapse of the trial led to days of pointed questions about Britain’s willingness to confront Beijing, especially as the government under Sir Keir Starmer seeks to balance security with the UK’s substantial economic ties to China.
Indeed, China remains Britain’s third-largest trading partner, a fact not lost on ministers. Jarvis acknowledged the importance of continued trade and cooperation on shared interests such as the environment, research, and crime. Nevertheless, he stressed that sanctions would be used “as necessary” and that rules would be tightened to tackle covert funding of political parties, with the Electoral Commission granted greater enforcement powers.
Calls for tougher action have come from across the political spectrum. Conservative MP Alicia Kearns urged the government to add China to the enhanced tier of the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme (FIRS), a move that would require anyone working on behalf of China to register their activities with the government—currently a requirement only for those working for Iran and Russia. Jarvis responded, “We are looking closely at whether it is necessary to make further additions onto the enhanced tier, but no decision has yet been made.”
Former Conservative Party leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith was even more blunt, telling the BBC, “We have to be much, much more vigilant. Why is the government so unable to call China what it is, which is a persistent, continuing threat to Britain’s national security. That is clear to every single member of the public… but somehow the government seems to think it isn’t that clear.”
The MI5 warning comes against a backdrop of mounting anxiety about the breadth of Chinese influence in the UK, from Huawei’s controversial role in building the country’s 5G network, to Chinese investment in universities, to the withdrawal of CGTN’s broadcasting licence over propaganda concerns, and repeated allegations of intellectual property theft.
As the UK government weighs its next steps—possibly including sanctions, tighter rules on political funding, and a broader designation of China as a hostile state—one thing is clear: the battle for influence and information is being fought not just on the streets of London, but in the digital corridors of LinkedIn and the inboxes of Parliament. The government’s challenge will be to defend national security without shutting the door on vital economic and diplomatic engagement with one of the world’s leading powers.
The latest alert has left lawmakers and the public alike with a sense of urgency—and a reminder that, in the digital age, the frontlines of espionage are often just a click away.
