16 December 2024 , 19:08
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Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson won’t be joining the rest of the Royal Family for Christmas dinner, it is understood.
The Duke of York has faced further scrutiny after his links to an alleged Chinese spy were published for the first time.
The alleged spy, Yang Tengbo, was banned from the UK by MI5 last week due to the potential security threat. He had been under an anonymity order known only as ‘H6’ until he revealed his name publicly to deny the allegations against him.
Prince Andrew has now reportedly declined to spend Christmas with the rest of the Royal Family this year – but a spokeswoman for Buckingham Palace declined to comment to Metro.
On Friday, the Duke said he had ‘ceased all contact’ with Tengbo following ‘advice’ from officials, and said he had never discussed anything of a ‘sensitive nature’ with him.
Yang, who penetrated the upper echelons of British society and had been invited to Buckingham Palace by Prince Andrew, has said he ‘would never do anything to harm the interests of the UK’ after his identity was revealed.
In a statement, 50-year-old Yang said he has ‘done nothing wrong or unlawful’, adding that the ‘widespread description of me as a “spy” is entirely untrue’.
In 2023, Yang – who also is known as Tengbo Yang and Chris Yang – was banned from the UK by then-home secretary Suella Braverman after MI5 became concerned about information found on his phone.
According to the Sunday Times, the figures he met include David Cameron at a Downing Street reception and Theresa May at a black-tie event over the last 15 years.
He was also invited to Prince Andrew’s birthday party in 2020.
Officials told the home secretary in a briefing that Yang was able to generate relationships between top figures in UK and China ‘that could be leveraged for political interference purposes’.
Yang’s lawyer Guy Vassall-Adams KC told the High Court: ‘There has been an enormous amount of media reporting in relation to this story, and particularly in relation to the relationship between my client, H6, and Prince Andrew, as well as a huge amount of speculation about the identity of my client.’
In a letter found by investigators, an advisor to the Duke of York told him: ‘You sit at the very top of a tree that many, many people would like to be on.’
It added: ‘I also hope that it is clear to you where you sit with my principal and indeed his family.
‘You should never underestimate the strength of that relationship.’
A statement released by the Duke’s office on Friday said: ‘The Duke of York followed advice from His Majesty’s Government and ceased all contact with the individual after concerns were raised.
‘The duke met the individual through official channels with nothing of a sensitive nature ever discussed.
‘He is unable to comment further on matters relating to national security.’
Several British politicians, including Reform leader Nigel Farage and Labour MP Graham Stringer, had called for Yang’s anonymity to be lifted.
Following the exposure of his identity, Farage tweeted: ‘I am pleased that pressure by Reform over the last 48 hours has now led to this man being named. The public deserve to know.’
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme this morning, former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith said the alleged spy was ‘the tip of the iceberg’.
He added: ‘Beijing’s United Front Work Department, tasked with establishing ties with influential people in other countries, has about 40,000 operatives globally potentially attempting to influence journalism, academics, politics, and the whole lot.’
Former security minister Tom Tugendhat told BBC Breakfast: ‘So, the story, I can understand why it’s been about Prince Andrew, but it’s not really about Prince Andrew.
‘It’s about the way the Chinese Communist Party is seeking to exert influence here in the United Kingdom.’