Who is Christine Lee woman at the centre of UK spy service MI5 warning

Britain’s domestic spy service MI5 on Thursday sent out an alert to lawmakers about a woman named Christine Lee alleging she was "involved in political interference activities" in the UK Parliament on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party. Speaker of the British House of Commons Lindsay Hoyle informed the lawmakers about the alert, saying the spy agency has found that Lee "has facilitated financial donations to serving and aspiring parliamentarians on behalf of foreign nationals based in Hong Kong and China".

The allegations were swiftly rejected by the Chinese embassy in London, claiming that China does not interfere in the internal affairs of other countries.

"We have no need and never seek to 'buy influence' in any foreign parliament," it said. "We firmly oppose the trick of smearing and intimidation against the Chinese community in the UK."

Who is Christine Lee

Christine Lee is the founder of a law firm with offices in London and Birmingham.

In 2019, then UK Prime Minister Theresa May personally congratulated Lee after she was awarded for helping Chinese-British cooperation. She was also photographed with David Cameron when he was holding the top office at Downing Street.

Her law firm Christine Lee & Co has donated £584,177 to Labour MP Barry Gardiner’s office, reported The Guardian citing Electoral Commission records. The Labour leader acknowledged receiving hundreds of thousands of pounds in donations from the Chinese agent, saying he has been liaising with intelligence services "for a number of years" about her.

"They have always known, and been made fully aware by me, of her engagement with my office and the donations she made to fund researchers in my office in the past," Gardiner said.

Christine Lee & Co has listed on its website one of its roles as legal adviser to the Chinese embassy in Britain.