David Taylor, the husband of UK’s Labour Party Member of Parliament Joani Reid, was arrested in London on Wednesday on suspicion of spying for China. Taylor, 39, is one of three arrested in an operation against UK operatives allegedly working to assist China’s intelligence agency, per reports.
UK’s The Telegraph reports that Taylor was detained by the London’s Metropolitan Police and is being held under the National Security Act. The other two man arrested in the case are from Wales. The report identified one of the detainees as 43-year-old Matthew Aplin from Pontyclun in South Wales who is a former communications officer for Labour Party. The other detainee was identified only as a 68-year-old from Powys.
Reid, who is a Labour Party MP from East Kilbride and Strathaven told Sky News in a statement that she has “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, and we should not be treated by media organizations as though we are,” she said in a statement to Sky News.
Who Is David Taylor?
According to The Times, Taylor is currently working at a top executive position at Asia House, a think-tank that works on Europe-Asia dialogues. Taylor, known for his close ties with the Labour Party in Wales, previously worked as a special adviser to former Welsh secretary Peter Hain.
Per The Times, Taylor has also worked as a lobbyist for energy companies in addition to his role at the Welsh secretary’s office.
According to reports, Reid was arrested at one of three addresses in London that were searched as part of the operation, alongside the addresses in Wales from where the other arrests were made.
The searches come after MI5 issued a warning to British MPs in November about the risk of Chinese intelligence operatives approaching politicians. he warning said those operatives were cultivating ties to potentially gather information or influence UK politics. China, however, denies such allegations.
UK’s Security Minister Dan Jarvis said that UK is in talks with Chinese authorities over the allegations. Jarvis described it as “an increasing pattern of covert activity from Chinese state-linked actors targeting U.K. democracy.”
