The Prime Minister continued to face pressure to designate China a threat to national security on Tuesday after it was revealed an an alleged Chinese spy was Prince Andrew’s chief representative for his money making venture in Beijing.
Yang Tengbo was a "close" confidant of the Duke of York and had been pictured with politicians including Lord David Cameron and Baroness Theresa May before being banned from entering the UK in 2023.
The 50-year-old, known only as H6 until an anonymity order was lifted on Monday, reportedly visited Prince Andrew at Buckingham Palace and founded the Chinese arm of the duke’s entrepreneurial scheme.
Sir Keir Starmer is said to be facing pressure from MI5, as well as opposition MPs, to designate China a national security threat following warnings that failing to do so will empower the state’s spying operations.
Sir Iain Duncan Smith, the former Conservative leader and one of Parliament’s most vocal China critics, told MPs on Monday that Mr Yang was “not a lone wolf”.
However, the Government fears that significant action could have severe economic and political effects.
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson on Tuesday said that the Government will take "whatever steps are necessary to keep our country safe".
But she added that Britain's national interest "does involve having dialogue with China" and the UK operates on a "pragmatic basis" with the state.
Asked about the idea of China being put on a proposed foreign influence register and whether the Prime Minister and Chancellor want to keep a close relationship with Beijing, Ms Phillipson told Sky News: "We've got our national interest to think about and that does involve having dialogue with China where it serves Britain's national interest.
"There will be areas... that do require some element of cooperation but we do so on a pragmatic basis, with a clear understanding about the wider strategic challenge that is presented."
Mr Yang, 50, is a former Chinese civil servant who used the first name Christopher when he arrived in London as a language student in 2002.
He studied in the capital for one year before taking a master's degree at the University of York in Public Administration and Public Policy.
Since 2005 he is believed to have split his time between Britain and China.
A court heard that in 2021 one of Prince Andrew’s senior aides wrote to Mr Yang to tell him: “Outside of his closest internal confidants, you sit at the very top of a tree that many, many people would like to be on.”
The businessman was appointed founder of Pitch@Palace China, part of the duke’s international entrepreneur scheme and money making venture.
But security services had raised concerns and suspected him an agent for the United Front Work Department, the Chinese Communist Party’s foreign intelligence and propaganda unit.
Judges at an immigration tribunal last week ruled that then home secretary Suella Braverman had been “entitled to conclude” that Mr Yang “represented a risk to the national security” when he was banned from returning to London in 2023.
The tribunal also heard that Mr Yang enjoyed an “unusual degree of trust” with Prince Andrew.
Asked whether there should be more openness about royal finances following the revelations, Ms Phillipson told the BBC: "As a politician I don't intend to offer commentary on the royal family.
"The royal family stay out of politics and I think it's wise for politicians not to engage in commentary on the royal family."
She added: "I think what is clear here overall is that we as a Government will take whatever steps are necessary to keep our country safe.
"It's the number one duty and responsibility of any government to act in the national interest and to make sure that national security and public safety is upheld."
