#parliamentary-security

#parliamentary-security

Simon Whelband is a Conservative councillor and also works for the Conservative MP Neil O'Brien, who was sanctioned by China in 2021. Simon went into his LinkedIn messages and there it was. A message from an account in the name of Shirly Shen sent some weeks earlier. He hadn't responded to the unsolicited message and reported it to Parliament's security services. He was then advised to block the account.

Heightened security measures were introduced in the Commons after the phone was found. Audio and guided tours were cancelled and there was reduced access to the Commons chamber. The House of Lords took the same decision to reduce access to the Lords Chamber as a precautionary measure. Enquiries remain ongoing and we continue to keep the speaker and clerk of the house up to date with our investigation, the spokesperson said.

"I've been involved with China for a long time. "I've called out China's human rights abuses, I was one of those who put forward amendments to make sure Chinese government companies weren't involved in our infrastructure projects, as a result of which I'm a subject of interest to them."