A suspected Chinese spy who became a “close confidante” of the Duke of York was banned from the UK over national security fears that he could compromise the Royal.
Former Home Secretary Suella Braverman took the decision to bar the businessman, who has close ties to the Chinese State, from the UK in March 2023.
Full details of the case were published for the first time on Thursday, as the man - known only as H6 - lost an appeal against the decision.
The explosive ruling revealed that Prince Andrew struck up an “unusually” close relationship with the man and agreed to business dealings, at a time when he was under intense international pressure over his links to Jeffrey Epstein.
The businessman was allowed to act as a go-between for Prince Andrew, and was invited to the Royal’s 2020 birthday party.
He was also suspected of circumventing the Duke’s Private Secretaries, and smuggling people unnoticed in and out of Andrew’s residence in Windsor.
In a briefing to Mrs Braverman in July 2023, officials claimed H6 had been in a position to generate relationships between prominent UK figures and senior Chinese officials “that could be leveraged for political interference purposes”.
They also said that H6 had downplayed his relationship with the Chinese state, which combined with his relationship with Andrew, represented a threat to national security.
In a ruling on Thursday, Mr Justice Bourne, Judge Stephen Smith and Sir Stewart Eldon, dismissed the appeal against H6’s ban from entering the UK.
“The Secretary of State was entitled to conclude that the applicant represented a risk to the national security of the United Kingdom, and that she was entitled to conclude that his exclusion was justified and proportionate”, they said.
The reason for H6’s exclusion was a suspicion he had engaged in “covert and deceptive activity” on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and that he likely posed a threat to national security.
The judges said the Home Secretary had a “rational basis for the conclusion that (H6) had been in a position to generate relationships with prominent UK figures which could be leveraged for political interference purposes by the CCP or the Chinese State.
Dominic Hampshire, a senior aide to Prince Andrew, wrote about the businessman’s relationship with the Royal, which judges said had helped to “justify the conclusion that (he) won a significant degree, one could say an unusual degree, of trust from a senior member of the Royal Family who was prepared to enter into business activities with him.”
In a reference to the Epstein scandal, they said the relationship was struck up when “the Duke was under considerable pressure and could be expected to value (his) loyal support.
“It is obvious that the pressures on the Duke could make him vulnerable to the misuse of that sort of influence.”
The Home Secretary concluded there was potential for “leveraging” such a relationship, especially by a person who had sought to minimise his links with the Chinese State.
The judges added: “References in Mr Hampshire’s letter of 30 March 2020 to ‘obsessive confidentiality’, to ‘navigating around the Duke’s Private Secretaries’ and to getting people ‘unnoticed in and out of the house in Windsor’ may genuinely have had the innocent explanations which have been put forward, but the Secretary of State was entitled to conclude that they did not.
In his legal action, H6 argued at a tribunal in London that the decision had been unlawful. He said he avoids getting involved in politics, and only had limited links to the Chinese state.
His lawyers also argued that there was evidence that it was difficult for a Chinese national involved in business to avoid any contact with the CCP and that material related to his relationship with Andrew had to be read in the context of an advisor writing to someone who had been loyal to the Duke in difficult times.
However Home Office lawyers argued that H6 had downplayed his links to an arm of the CCP, and that his relationship with Andrew could be used for political interference.
The three judges said that H6 had enjoyed a private life in the UK, which had been described as the businessman’s “second home”, adding: “He has settled status, a home and extensive business interests in the United Kingdom. He was regarded as a close confidant of the Duke.”
“Whilst excluding the applicant would not necessarily halt his activities, it would significantly hinder them”, added the tribunal.
“Cultivating relationships with prominent UK individuals would logically be much more difficult if no meetings could take place in the UK.”
Prince Andrew, who was formerly a trade envoy for the UK, was branded a “useful idiot” in 2022 over a string of trips to China as a guest of an organisation closely tied to the government.
He was forced to step down from frontline Royal duties as a result of the Epstein scandal.
