Politicians and royals need to be extremely vigilant of Chinese spies, shadow home secretary Chris Philp warns
The shadow home secretary said he is “deeply concerned” about allegations of Chinese spies in the UK and warned those in public life to be “extremely vigilant”.
Chris Philp told Sky News’ Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips programme the Chinese Communist Party has been “engaging in organised and systemic attempts to influence political life” for many years.
Sky News has seen photos of the alleged Chinese spy with David Cameron and Theresa May when they were Conservative prime ministers.
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On Thursday the businessman and “close confidant” of Prince Andrew, known as “H6” for legal reasons, was banned from entering the country, with judges arguing the Duke of York could have been made “vulnerable” by his influence.
Mr Philp warned: “I think everybody in public life and involved in business and academia needs to think very, very carefully about people who might be connected to the Chinese state.
“I think people who are in positions that are sensitive or high profile should be particularly vigilant.”
He said the fact H6 was in contact with Prince Andrew shows “there are risks there and everyone needs to be extremely vigilant”.
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‘China has done this for many years’
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the government’s approach to China is a “complex arrangement” because it balances security concerns with working together on its economy.
She told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme: “We will continue to take a very strong approach to our national security, that includes to any challenge to our national security including to our economic security from China, from other countries around the world, that will always be the approach that we will take.
“Of course, with China, we also need to make sure we have that economic interaction, economic co-operation in place as well. So it’s a complex arrangement.”
Both Lord Cameron and Lady May’s spokespeople told Sky News they meet and are photographed with many people each year.
Lady May’s spokeswoman said she does not remember “when or where this particular photograph was taken or the man in question”.
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Lord Cameron and Theresa May were both pictured with the alleged Chinese spy. Pic: PA
Mr Philp said it seemed like H6 was photographed with the two former prime ministers “on a sort of almost brush-by basis…and there was no sort of meaningful contact or communication”.
“In public life, you stop and get photographed next to people the whole time,” he said.
“It happens dozens of times a week and it doesn’t imply any sort of, deep relationship.”
H6 was invited to Prince Andrew’s birthday party in 2020, and was told by royal aide Dominic Hampshire he could act on the duke’s behalf when dealing with potential investors in China, a tribunal heard in July this year.
A judge ruled the Chinese businessman had an “unusual” degree of trust from the royal.
On Friday, the duke said he “ceased all contact” with the businessman after concerns were raised by the government.
H6 was first excluded from entering the country in 2023 over national security fears by Suella Braverman, who was home secretary at the time.
In July that year, the Home Office said H6 was considered to have engaged in “covert and deceptive activity” on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party.
He then argued it was unlawful and appealed the ruling but judges upheld the ban on him entering the UK on Thursday.
Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, marks their 50th birthday amid a year of rising institutional and geopolitical adoption of the world’s first cryptocurrency.
The identity of Nakamoto remains one of the biggest mysteries in crypto, with speculation ranging from cryptographers like Adam Back and Nick Szabo to broader theories involving government intelligence agencies.
While Nakamoto’s identity remains anonymous, the Bitcoin (BTC) creator is believed to have turned 50 on April 5 based on details shared in the past.
According to archived data from his P2P Foundation profile, Nakamoto once claimed to be a 37-year-old man living in Japan and listed his birthdate as April 5, 1975.
Source: Web.archive.org
Nakamoto’s anonymity has played a vital role in maintaining the decentralized nature of the Bitcoin network, which has no central authority or leadership.
The Bitcoin wallet associated with Nakamoto, which holds over 1 million BTC, has laid dormant for more than 16 years despite BTC rising from $0 to an all-time high above $109,000 in January.
Satoshi Nakamoto statue in Lugano, Switzerland. Source: Cointelegraph
Nakamoto’s 50th birthday comes nearly a month after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order creating a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a Digital Asset Stockpile, marking the first major step toward integrating Bitcoin into the US financial system.
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Nakamoto’s legacy: a “cornerstone of economic sovereignty”
“At 50, Nakamoto’s legacy is no longer just code; it’s a cornerstone of economic sovereignty,” according to Anndy Lian, author and intergovernmental blockchain expert.
“Bitcoin’s reserve status signals trust in its scarcity and resilience,” Lian told Cointelegraph, adding:
“What’s fascinating is the timing. Fifty feels symbolic — half a century of life, mirrored by Bitcoin’s journey from a white paper to a trillion-dollar asset. Nakamoto’s vision of trustless, peer-to-peer money has outgrown its cypherpunk roots, entering the halls of power.”
However, lingering questions about Nakamoto remain unanswered, including whether they still hold the keys to their wallet, which is “a fortune now tied to US policy,” Lian said.
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Is Satoshi Nakamoto wealthier than Bill Gates?
In February, Arkham Intelligence published findings that attribute 1.096 million BTC — then valued at more than $108 billion — to Nakamoto. That would place him above Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates on the global wealth rankings, according to data shared by Coinbase director Conor Grogan.
Satoshi’s new addresses. Source: Conor Grogan
If accurate, this would make Nakamoto the world’s 16th richest person.
Despite the growing interest in Nakamoto’s identity and holdings, his early decision to remain anonymous and inactive has helped preserve Bitcoin’s decentralized ethos — a principle that continues to define the cryptocurrency to this day.
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The United States stock market lost more in value over the April 4 trading day than the entire cryptocurrency market is worth, as fears over US President Donald Trump’s tariffs continue to ramp up.
On April 4, the US stock market lost $3.25 trillion — around $570 billion more than the entire crypto market’s $2.68 trillion valuation at the time of publication.
Nasdaq 100 is now “in a bear market”
Among the Magnificent-7 stocks, Tesla (TSLA) led the losses on the day with a 10.42% drop, followed by Nvidia (NVDA) down 7.36% and Apple (AAPL) falling 7.29%, according to TradingView data.
The significant decline across the board signals that the Nasdaq 100 is now “in a bear market” after falling 6% across the trading day, trading resource account The Kobeissi Letter said in an April 4 X post. This is the largest daily decline since March 16, 2020.
“US stocks have now erased a massive -$11 TRILLION since February 19 with recession odds ABOVE 60%,” it added. The Kobessi Letter said Trump’s April 2 tariff announcement was “historic” and if the tariffs continue, a recession will be “impossible to avoid.”
Source: Anthony Scaramucci
On April 2, Trump signed an executive order establishing reciprocal tariffs on trading partners and a 10% baseline tariff on all imports from all countries.
Trump said the reciprocal tariffs will be roughly half the rate US trading partners impose on American goods.
Related: Bitcoin bulls defend $80K support as ‘World War 3 of trade wars’ crushes US stocks
Meanwhile, the crypto industry has pointed out that while the stock market continues to decline, Bitcoin (BTC) remains stronger than most expected.
Crypto trader Plan Markus pointed out in an April 4 X post that while the entire stock market “is tanking,” Bitcoin is holding.
Source: Jeff Dorman
Even some crypto skeptics have pointed out the contrast between Bitcoin’s performance and the US stock market during the recent period of macro uncertainty.
Stock market commentator Dividend Hero told his 203,200 X followers that he has “hated on Bitcoin in the past, but seeing it not tank while the stock market does is very interesting to me.”
Meanwhile, technical trader Urkel said Bitcoin “doesn’t appear to care one bit about tariff wars and markets tanking.” Bitcoin is trading at $83,749 at the time of publication, down 0.16% over the past seven days, according to CoinMarketCap data.
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