Three years ago, Christine Lee received a special award from then prime minister
Theresa May in recognition of her pioneering work in fostering close relations between
China and Britain.
It was a landmark moment in the life of the 58-year-old entrepreneur, who arrived in Britain from
Hong Kong as a child.
She duly posed for pictures outside No 10
Downing Street, the iconic black door draped with red banners celebrating a ‘Golden Era’ in relations between the two nations.
The symbolism of the image was impossible to miss: Lee had reached the heart of Britain’s Establishment and was being embraced by it.
In a personal letter, Mrs May said – in words that now seem hopelessly naïve – ‘I wish you well in your work to further the participation of British-Chinese people in the UK political system.’
For yesterday the smartly dressed, dark-haired Lee was unmasked by our domestic security service MI5 as a Chinese Communist Party agent ‘engaged in political interference’ of MPs on both the Left and Right of the political spectrum.