James Cleverly refuses to say if he raised case of alleged spy during visit to China

James Cleverly refused to comment on whether he raised the case of a parliamentary researcher being arrested for allegedly spying for China when he visited the country in August.

Speaking to Laura Kuennsberg on Sunday (17 September), the foreign secretary said: “On intelligence and security matters we do not comment.”

“You can keep asking and I keep giving the same answer,” Mr Cleverly added.

The researcher was arrested on suspicion of spying for Beijing in March.

He has denied the allegations in a statement released through his lawyers, saying that he had spent his career trying to “educate others” about the “threats presented by the Chinese Communist Party”.