Alleged Chinese spy Yang Tengbo says he ‘did nothing wrong’ as he issues statement over links to Prince Andrew
The alleged Chinese spy with links to Prince Andrew has said he did “nothing wrong or unlawful” – as he was named publicly for the first time.
In a statement, Yang Tengbo added that the “widespread description of me as a ‘spy’ is entirely untrue”.
Politics live: What we know so far about Yang Tengbo
Mr Yang at a Pitch@Palace event with Prince Andrew
It comes after the High Court lifted restrictions on naming the businessman, previously described as a “close confidant” of the royal, on Monday afternoon.
Until now he was only known publicly as “H6” after a court imposed an anonymity order.
Mr Yang said he asked his legal team to disclose his identity “due to the high level of speculation and misreporting in the media”.
Last week, he lost an appeal over a decision to bar him from entering the UK on national security grounds.
Mr Yang said: “I have done nothing wrong or unlawful and the concerns raised by the Home Office against me are ill-founded. The widespread description of me as a ‘spy’ is entirely untrue.”
He claimed he was a victim of a “political climate” which had seen a rise in tensions between the UK and China.
“When relations are good, and Chinese investment is sought, I am welcome in the UK,” he said.
“When relations sour, an anti-China stance is taken, and I am excluded.”
Mr Yang has links to the Duke of York
Mr Yang was the founder-partner of Pitch@Palace China. The Pitch@Palace initiative was the Duke of York’s scheme to support entrepreneurs.
Pressure had been mounting for Mr Yang to be named after last week’s court ruling.
Richard Tice, the deputy leader of Reform UK, had threatened to use parliamentary privilege to reveal his identity in the House of Commons.
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Parliamentary privilege allows MPs to speak freely during parliamentary proceedings without fear of legal action.
Guy Vassall-Adams KC, for Mr Yang, told the High Court that threats to name his client in parliament were part of the reason he decided to apply to lift the anonymity order.
He said: “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.”
Lifting his anonymity, Judge Mr Justice Chamberlain said: “It seems to me that these proceedings now serve no further purpose.”
Yang Tengbo with Theresa May and her husband Philip
Yang pictured with former prime ministers
Mr Yang 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.
On Friday, Prince Andrew said he “ceased all contact” with the Chinese businessman.
In a statement from his office, the Duke of York said he had cut ties following “advice” from officials but insisted the pair had never discussed anything of a “sensitive nature”.
Mr Yang had previously also been pictured alongside former prime ministers – including David Cameron and Theresa May.
Both Lord Cameron and Lady May’s spokespeople told Sky News at the weekend they meet and are photographed with many people each year.
A spokeswoman for Ms May said: “Baroness May and her husband, Sir Philip, are photographed at numerous events in any given year.
“As such, she doesn’t remember when or where this particular photograph was taken or the man in question.”
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Who is alleged Chinese spy?
A source close to Lord Cameron said: “David Cameron was leader of the Conservative Party for over a decade and PM for six years.
“He met thousands of people in that time at hundreds of functions and events. We don’t have any further information about this individual.”
China ‘UK’s most prominent security threat’
The anonymity lift came shortly before former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith raised an urgent question in the Commons about the Chinese spying group Mr Yang is said to belong to, the United Front Work Department (UFWD).
Sir Iain said Mr Yang was “not a lone wolf” and one of around 40,000 members of the UFWD.
He called for China to be put on the enhanced tier of the foreign influence registration scheme (FIRS), which was established under the Conservatives but is yet to be implemented.
The scheme would require those involved in promoting the interests of other countries to declare themselves – but it won’t commence until the summer, Home Office minister Dan Jarvis has confirmed.
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Sir Iain said there is “no need for delay”, and that the new Labour government must “accept now that China is our most prominent security threat”.
Mr Jarvis acknowledged the case of Mr Yang “does not exist in a vacuum” and the UK is facing a breadth of “pernicious and complex” threats from foreign states.
He echoed comments made by Sir Keir Starmer earlier, who defended his approach for a “pragmatic” relationship with Beijing despite saying it posed a “challenge”.
Yang statement ‘not worth paper it’s written on’
Professor Anthony Glees, an intelligence and security expert from the University of Buckingham, told Sky News that Prince Andrew “unbeknown to himself” has “been a risk to our national security”.
He said Mr Yang’s statement is “not worth the paper it was written on” and that hostile states using “long-term penetration” lasting decades is common.
He added: “In fact, there is an intelligence law in China that says that every member of the Communist Party of China has a duty to accept intelligence tasking if the state demands it of them.”
Lord Patten, the former governor of Hong Kong, also told Sky News he was “not quite sure where cooperation has got us” with regards to the UK’s approach to China.
He said that while he doubted Mr Yang held “huge influence” over anyone significant, his case was nevertheless “an indication of the extent to which” alleged agents can access places of power in the UK.
And he said the UFWD was an organisation that “has got lots of people in this country trying to influence policymakers”.
A spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said: “China has always acted in an upright and honest manner and has never engaged in any deception or interference, so it is not worthwhile to refute this kind of groundless speculation which is based on one’s own judgement.”
It has become almost impossible to book a driving test on the government website due to bots on the booking system, driving instructors have told Sky News.
The only official way to book a practical car driving test is through the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) website.
New test slots are released by the DVSA at 6am every Monday, but “no matter how fast I am, there’s nothing available”, said Aman Sanghera, a driving instructor based in west London.
Driving instructor Aman Sanghera wants ‘stronger oversight and regulation’ from the DVSA
When asked about the cause, she said: “All of the tests are taken by bots, they are definitely taking over the booking system.”
In this context, bots are automated software designed to mimic human behaviour and programmed to carry out actions like searching for and reserving driving test appointments on the official government website much faster than humans can.
Individuals and companies use bots to block-book driving test slots and then resell them at a profit, which is not illegal, although it is a violation of the DVSA’s terms of use.
Recent data shows the DVSA has closed over 800 business accounts for misuse of its booking service in the past two years.
It takes five months on average for a test in England – unless you pay a middleman
Ms Sanghera, who has been in the trade for over a decade, said the usage of bots started a few months ago “but is now getting out of hand”.
She said: “I’ve actually heard about driving instructors being approached by certain individuals to then take on their IDs to log in and to run this scam.
“I struggle to actually book a test for my students, which means that by the time my students are logging in, they’ve got no chance.”
Driving instructors can book driving tests on behalf of their pupils using a dedicated service, allowing them to bypass the general queue and potentially secure test slots more efficiently.
As a result, Ms Sanghera said students are “forced to go to third-party sites” to secure “the same test dates which are then available later on during the day at a premium rate of like £200-£300”.
She added: “Given that the DVSA is a government-regulated body, one would expect a more robust and fair system to ensure affordability and accessibility for all candidates.”
The long waiting lists and high demand for tests has led some to take advantage
The standard test fee is £62, offered by the DVSA, which is responsible for carrying out driving tests in Great Britain.
The biggest concern for the driving instructors Sky News has spoken to, including Ms Sanghera, is “the fact that students are being exploited”.
When Ahmed Ali struggled to find a practical test on the DVSA website, he turned to third-party sites – a decision he now regrets.
Ahmed Ali started looking for a test two years ago
He said: “I’ve spent about £650 on driving tests, and I’ve sat zero tests. I’ve given all this money to third-parties that look for cancellations so they could try to get you a faster test.”
But the 20-year-old said that despite making the payments, he “didn’t hear back from them again”, which is illegal.
“When you lose all that money, you get to a point where you can’t really afford to find another driving test,” he said.
“I just feel very frustrated because I’ve spent all this money, all this time into driving, and I haven’t sat a single driving test.”
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The DVSA urged applicants to only book tests via the official Gov.uk website and told Sky News it “deploys enhanced bot protection to help stop automated systems from buying up tests unfairly”.
“These applications, however, are constantly evolving and changing, and DVSA’s work on this is ongoing,” it said.
From Tuesday, the DVSA will require learner drivers to provide 10 full working days’ notice to change or cancel their car driving test without losing the test fee, up from the current three days.
Also part of the DVSA’s crackdown to reduce waiting times is a consultation expected to launch in spring 2025 “to streamline the driving test booking process” and “tighten terms and conditions”.
The last blast furnaces left operating in Britain could see their fate sealed within days, after their Chinese owners took the decision to cut off the crucial supply of ingredients keeping them running.
Jingye, the owner of British Steel in Scunthorpe, has, according to union representatives, cancelled future orders for the iron ore, coal and other raw materials needed to keep the furnaces running.
The upshot is that they may have to close next month – even sooner than the earliest date suggested for its closure.
Read more: Thousands of jobs at risk as British Steel consults unions over closure
The fate of the blast furnaces – the last two domestic sources of virgin steel, made from iron ore rather than recycled – is likely to be determined in a matter of days, with the Department for Business and Trade now actively pondering nationalisation.
The upshot is that even as Britain contends with a trade war across the Atlantic, it is now working against the clock to secure the future of steelmaking at Scunthorpe.
The talks between the government and Jingye broke down last week after the Chinese company, which bought British Steel out of receivership in 2020, rejected a £500m offer of public money to replace the existing furnaces with electric arc furnaces.
The sum is the same one it offered to Tata Steel, which has shut down the other remaining UK blast furnaces in Port Talbot and is planning to build electric furnaces – which have far lower carbon emissions.
These steel workers could soon be out of work
However, the owners argue that the amount is too little to justify extra investment at Scunthorpe, and said last week they were now consulting on the date of shutting both the blast furnaces and the attached steelworks.
Since British Steel is the main provider of steel rails to Network Rail – as well as other construction steels available from only a few sites in the world – the closure would leave the UK more reliant on imports for critical infrastructure sites.
However, since the site belongs to its Chinese owners, a decision to nationalise the site would involve radical steps government officials are wary of taking.
They also fear leaving taxpayers exposed to a potentially loss-making business for the long run.
The dilemma has been heightened by the sharp turn in geopolitical sentiment following Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
The incipient trade war and threatened cut in American support to Europe have sparked fresh calls for countries to act urgently to secure their own supplies of critical materials, especially those used for defence and infrastructure.
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Gareth Stace, head of UK Steel, the industry lobby group, said: “Talks seem to have broken down between government and British Steel.
“My advice to government is: please, Jonathan Reynolds, Business Secretary, get back round that negotiating table, thrash out a deal, and if a deal can’t be found in the next few days, then I fear for the very future of the sector, but also here for Scunthorpe steelworks.”
British Steel declined to comment.
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