Starmer hit by new China spying scandal after brutal PMQs
The Daily T
The Telegraph
4.1 • 706 Ratings
🗓️ 4 March 2026
⏱️ 43 minutes
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Summary
A fresh China spying scandal has hit Labour after David Taylor, the partner of Joani Reid, the MP for East Kilbride and Strathaven, was arrested on suspicion of assisting Beijing intelligence. Police arrested Mr Taylor along with two other men under the same charges.
The arrests followed a bruising encounter for Sir Keir Starmer at PMQs, where Kemi Badenoch branded his response to the Iran war “weak and pathetic”. Camilla Tominey and Tim Stanley review what happened, and express their surprise that Badenoch didn’t make more of Donald Trump’s “not exactly Churchill” criticism.
They also speak to Gen Sir Richard Barrons, author of the Government’s 2025 strategic defence review, who says we need to be spending billions more on our military, but the Government is choosing to spend money on welfare instead.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Telegraph. |
| 0:09.1 | Three men have been arrested on suspicion of spying for China, and one of them is the partner of a sitting Labour MP. |
| 0:18.3 | It's the last thing Kier Starrma needed after a bruising PMQ's |
| 0:21.9 | in which Kemi Bagnock called him |
| 0:23.9 | weak and pathetic on defence. |
| 0:26.7 | And is Britain unprepared for war? |
| 0:29.4 | We crunch the numbers. |
| 0:30.8 | Welcome to The Daily Tea with me Tim Stanley. |
| 0:33.0 | And me, Camilla Tominy. |
| 0:34.1 | Thank you. me, Camilla Tomini. |
| 0:49.1 | Tim, we'll get onto the substance of PMQs in just a minute, but a remarkable moment afterwards, it seems Labour have become embroiled in yet another Chinese spying scandal. |
| 0:55.0 | Yes, security minister Dan Jarvis gave a surprise statement in which he could say very little because there is an ongoing legal case. |
| 1:04.0 | But it would seem that three men have been arrested, suspected of carrying out espionage, they are linked to China, and he hinted |
| 1:16.1 | they have some link to Parliament. Well, that would seem to be that one of the arrested men |
| 1:23.7 | is a partner of a sitting Labour MP. Yes, and this husband of an MP has just been named him, David Taylor, |
| 1:30.9 | who is married to Joni Reid, elected as the Labour MP to East Kilbride in Scotland |
| 1:37.0 | at the last general election, so very new to Parliament, elected in July 24. |
| 1:43.1 | What do we know about, Mr Taylor? Born in 1986, he was or is the |
| 1:48.3 | head of programmes at the Asia House think tank, which develops engagement between Asia and |
| 1:54.1 | Europe. He's understood to have worked for energy companies as a lobbyist and as a government |
| 1:59.7 | special adviser in the Wales office under |
| 2:02.5 | the new Labour government. |
... |
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