Overview
- Conservative MPs are pushing for an urgent question as business resumes in Westminster, with Kemi Badenoch urging the prime minister to deliver a statement while he is in Egypt.
- The Director of Public Prosecutions said CPS teams tried for many months but could not obtain a witness statement that China was a national security threat at the time of the alleged offences.
- Education secretary Bridget Phillipson said Jonathan Powell had no role in the substance or evidence of the case and retains the prime minister’s full confidence, and Powell has agreed to give private evidence to a joint committee.
- Speaker Lindsay Hoyle is exploring a private prosecution, though legal experts note the DPP can take over and discontinue any case that fails the evidential test.
- Reports cite White House concerns that dropping the case could affect intelligence sharing, while former senior security officials have voiced confusion over why the prosecution was abandoned.