MI5 has issued a spying alert for MPs and colleagues, warning that two people with links to Chinese intelligence services are actively trying to recruit MPs.
The two, who work as headhunters on the LinkedIn professional networking website aiming to obtain “non-public and insider information”, are also targeting economists, think tank staff and civil servants for their access to politicians, MI5 said.
MI5 named them as Amanda Qiu, from BR-YR Executive Search, and Shirley Shen, from the internship union, and told MPs and peers that they were using LinkedIn to “conduct large-scale outreach”.
The spy agency sent its warning to Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle and his Lords counterpart John McFaul on Tuesday morning, both of whom forwarded its contents to members of their houses with a cover message.
In his email to colleagues, McFaul said that individuals linked to China’s State Ministry Security Spy Agency (MSS) were “actively reaching out to individuals in our community”.
“Their aim is to gather information and lay the groundwork for long-term relationships by using professional networking sites, recruitment agents and consultants working on their behalf,” he said.
Qiu’s profile on LinkedIn, written in English, describes him as the chief executive of BR-YR Executive Search for more than six years and says he is based in Beijing. His listed interests include the UK Department for Transport and the Tony Blair Institute.
Shen’s profile, which is largely in English, describes him as co-founder of InternshipUnion, based in Hangzhou, eastern China. She says that “it has helped hundreds of students coming to China to do their internships” and describes herself as “a positive Asian girl” who “welcomes friends from all over the world to join us to have a magical Chinese experience”.
Qiu, Shen and the Chinese Embassy in London have been contacted for comment.
Security Minister Dan Jarvis confirmed in a lunchtime Commons statement that the alert had been sent. “This activity constitutes a covert and deliberate attempt by a foreign power to interfere in our sovereign affairs to favor its interests, and this government will not tolerate it,” he told MPs.
He said MI5 had warned that the spying operation was being run by “a group of Chinese intelligence officers, often hidden through cover companies or external headhunters”.
MI5 had previously warned about Chinese spies trying to obtain information by using LinkedIn to recruit Britons working in sensitive areas. Posing as recruitment consultants, agents, usually women, have tried to lure at least 10,000 Britons with potential job offers.