London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Saturday, Aug 30, 2025

Hostile foreign states pose ‘real risk’ of influencing MPs groups

Hostile foreign states pose ‘real risk’ of influencing MPs groups

Standards committee report calls for reforms to all-party parliamentary groups to avert ‘next great parliamentary scandal’
Hostile foreign states and others pose a “real risk” of gaining access and wielding influence through all-party parliamentary groups (APPGs), the Commons standards committee has warned.

Calling for reforms to avert what it described as the “next great parliamentary scandal”, the committee also voiced concerns that a dramatic rise in the number of the informal cross-party groups also risks “inappropriate influence and access” because they are so difficult to monitor.

The cautions come after an unprecedented security warning from MI5, circulated to MPs and peers earlier this year, that accused a lawyer of seeking to improperly influence parliamentarians on behalf of China’s ruling Communist party.

Barry Gardiner had received more than £500,000 in donations from Christine Lee before the alert was issued.

Giving private evidence to the report, the Commons Speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, said that indiscriminate engagement with state actors who may be hostile to UK interests did not take adequate account of the potential security risks to parliament.

“I worry that we are not joining up our security and the threats that we have,” said Hoyle, in his oral evidence for the report published on Saturday. “These people are not our friends.

“Some are our friends, but they have intentions and objectives, which worries me. If we are not careful, the security implication for the opening up of parliament is very, very worrying.”

The report – titled All-Party Parliamentary Groups: improving governance and regulation – comes after an investigation earlier this year, by the Guardian and Open Democracy, found that more than £13m has been poured into a growing network of MPs’ interest groups by private firms including healthcare bodies, arms companies and tech companies, fuelling concerns over the potential for backdoor influence.

The report states that “improper access” by paid lobbyists seeking to wield influence through APPGs was a risk that had been identified as far back as 2013, but that increased transparency introduced since has not mitigated the risk in the way it had been hoped.

The threat from hostile overseas states seeking to wield influence discreetly through APPGs was one that had only developed in recent years, added the MPs behind the report. They said they had been persuaded by Hoyle’s evidence that this was “a very real risk, which needs addressing with some urgency”.

APPGs are informal groups representing MPs’ and peers’ interests, from China and Russia to cancer, digital regulation, longevity and jazz. They must be chaired by MPs, but are often run or funded by lobbyists and corporate donors seeking to influence government policy.

The standards committee concluded in their report: “We are concerned that if left unchecked, APPGs could represent the next great parliamentary scandal, with commercial entities effectively buying access to and influence of parliamentarians and decision-makers.”

The MPs behind the report said Commons authorities should “provide more significant support” to help parliamentarians scrutinise the benefits being offered by foreign governments.

Funding should be made more transparent, while the number of APPGs must be reduced from the current number of 744, the standards committee recommended.

Regulatory enforcement was also advised, as was limits on secretariats of the groups to “reduce the risk of improper access”.

Standards committee chair, Chris Bryant, said APPGs “must never be a backdoor means of peddling influence around the corridors of power or pursuing a commercial interest”.

“[This] report represents a wake-up call for us all,” the Labour MP said. “The evidence we have gathered is chilling and points towards an urgent need for the house to take action.”

In a statement at the time, Gardiner said he had been “liaising with our security services for a number of years about Christine Lee” and that he had been “assured by the security services that while they have definitively identified improper funding channelled through Christine Lee, this does not relate to any funding received by my office.”
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Corporate America Cuts Middle Management as Bosses Take On Triple the Workload
Parents Sue OpenAI After Teen’s Death, Alleging ChatGPT Encouraged Suicide
Amazon Faces Lawsuit Over 'Buy' Label on Digital Streaming Content
Federal Reserve Independence Questioned Amid Trump’s Push to Reshape Central Bank
British Politics Faces Tumultuous Autumn After Summer of Rebellions and Rising Farage Momentum
US Appeals Court Rules Against Most Trump-Era Tariffs
UK Sought Broad Access to Apple Users’ Data, Court Filing Reveals
UK Bank Shares Dive Over Potential Tax on Sector
Germany’s Auto Industry Sheds 51,500 Jobs in First Half of 2025 Amid Deepening Crisis
Bruce Willis Relocated Due to Advanced Dementia
French and Korean Nuclear Majors Clash As EU Launches Foreign Subsidy Probe
EU Stands Firm on Digital Rules as Trump Warns of Retaliation
Getting Ready for the 3rd Time in Its History, Germany Approves Voluntary Military Service for Teenagers
Argentine President Javier Milei Evacuated After Stones Thrown During Campaign Event
Denmark Confronts U.S. Diplomat Over Covert Trump-Linked Influence in Greenland
Starmer Should Back Away from ECHR, Says Jack Straw
Trump Demands RICO Charges Against George Soros and Son for Funding Violent Protests
Taylor Swift Announces Engagement to NFL Star Travis Kelce
France May Need IMF Bailout, Warns Finance Minister
Chinese AI Chipmaker Cambricon Posts Record Profit as Beijing Pushes Pivot from Nvidia
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
Ukraine Finally Allows Young Men Aged Eighteen to Twenty-Two to Leave the Country
The Porn Remains, Privacy Disappears: How Britain Broke the Internet in Ten Days
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Welcome to The Definition of Insanity: Germany Edition
Just a reminder, this is Michael Jackson's daughter, Paris.
Spotify’s Strange Move: The Feature Nobody Asked For – Returns
Manhunt in Australia: Armed Anti-Government Suspect Kills Police Officers Sent to Arrest Him
China Launches World’s Most Powerful Neutrino Detector
How Beijing-Linked Networks Shape Elections in New York City
Ukrainian Refugee Iryna Zarutska Fled War To US, Stabbed To Death
Elon Musk Sues Apple and OpenAI Over Alleged App Store Monopoly
2 Australian Police Shot Dead In Encounter In Rural Victoria State
Vietnam Evacuates Hundreds of Thousands as Typhoon Kajiki Strikes; China’s Sanya Shuts Down
UK Government Delays Decision on China’s Proposed London Embassy Amid Concerns Over Redacted Plans
A 150-Year Tradition to Be Abolished? Uproar Over the Popular Central Park Attraction
A new faith called Robotheism claims artificial intelligence isn’t just smart but actually God itself
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner Purchases Third Property Amid Housing Tax Reforms Debate
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Italian Facebook Group Sharing Intimate Images Without Consent Shut Down Amid Police Investigation
Dutch Foreign Minister Resigns Amid Deadlock Over Israel Sanctions
Trump and Allies Send Messages of Support to Ukraine on Independence Day Amid Ongoing Conflict
China Reels as Telegram Chat Group Shares Hidden-Camera Footage of Women and Children
Sam Nicoresti becomes first transgender comedian to win Edinburgh Comedy Award
Builders uncover historic human remains in Lancashire house renovation
Australia Wants to Tax Your Empty Bedrooms
MotoGP Cameraman Narrowly Avoids Pedro Acosta Crash at Hungarian Grand Prix
FBI Investigates John Bolton Over Classified Documents in High-Profile Raids
Report reveals OpenAI pitched national ChatGPT Plus subscription to UK ministers
×