Labour 'must probe MP's connections to Russia and China', MPs demand

Labour ‘must probe MP’s close connections to Russia and China’, cross-party MPs demand

• Barry Gardiner’s son was signed by a top Russian club despite no pro experience
• Hemel Hempstead’s Jacob Gabriel Gardiner-Smith was at Zenit St Petersburg
• Mr Gardiner took £400,000 in staffing costs from an official revealed to be a spy
• A former Labour minister told Starmer to suspend Gardiner from the party

Sir Keir Starmer must launch an independent inquiry into a Labour MP’s ‘close connections’ to Russia, cross-party MPs have demanded.

Questions have also been raised over why Barry Gardiner’s son was signed by top Russian football club Zenit St Petersburg in 2016 when he had no professional experience.

Jacob Gabriel Gardiner-Smith is now back in the UK and since January has played for Hemel Hempstead Town.

Gardiner (far right) poses with Chinese officials including spy Christine Lee (far left)

Gardiner has been criticised for accepting donations from a Beijing-linked Chinese official

Labour leader Sir Keir has been urged to suspend Mr Gardiner from the party until an investigation into his links to Russia and China has concluded.

Earlier this year, it emerged that Mr Gardiner allowed a Chinese spy to donate hundreds of thousands of pounds to his parliamentary office. 

Christine Lee was the director of several pro-Beijing pressure groups and gave the Brent North MP more than £400,000 for his staffing costs.

Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle said Ms Lee had ‘engaged in political interference on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party’.

Zenit St Petersburg (home stadium pictured in 2021) is one of Russia’s biggest football clubs

Last night, a former Labour Minister said: ‘There must be full investigations into these shocking revelations and Barry Gardiner must publish all the details of his and his family’s dealings with the Chinese and the Russians.

Oligarch unit’s real drama 

A new ‘kleptocracy unit’ to track down the wealth of sanctioned Russian oligarchs would make Line Of Duty’s Ted Hastings proud, according to insiders.

The unit, set up by the Government last month, uses whiteboards with pictures and information of its targets, similar to those used in the BBC drama. 

The new team is ‘feeling chipper’ and ’emboldened’ in its mission to stop President Putin’s cronies evading sanctions.

Home Secretary Priti Patel has already been given a tour of the unit, part of the National Crime Agency. 

Sources said many of the team had expertise in this line of work. 

‘Line Of Duty is inspired by them, not the other way around,’ one insider said.

‘He must account for every penny he received from the Chinese and explain exactly what has been going on with the Russians. 

‘Keir Starmer should suspend Barry Gardiner and appoint an independent QC and accountant to conduct a full investigation.’ 

Conservative MP Alicia Kearns said: ‘It’s hard not to feel that Gardiner’s links to hostile states and his willingness to embrace them is anything but a serious matter of concern for our national security. 

‘First China, now potentially Russia, where next? North Korea? Barry could perhaps benefit from being a little more discerning with his friendships.’

Zenit St Petersburg is owned by Russian energy giant Gazprom. 

Before the club signed him, Mr Gardiner-Smith was an under-18 player at CSKA Moscow. 

The club is owned by VEB, whose chairman is Igor Shuvalov, a former deputy prime minister of Russia.

Questions were raised in 2016 about whether Mr Gardiner, Shadow Trade Secretary at the time, was a factor in his son’s signing with Zenit. 

Mr Gardiner-Smith has said his father played ‘no part’ in the deal.

In 2017, Mr Gardiner-Smith said: ‘My family is closely connected to Russia, we have close friends who live in Moscow.’ 

He added that he first travelled to Russia aged five.

Last night, Mr Gardiner was approached for comment.

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