Overview

• Director of Public Prosecutions Stephen Parkinson said the CPS sought such evidence from ministers over many months before discontinuing the case in September.
• National security adviser Jonathan Powell will be questioned in private by Parliament’s Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy, as Downing Street denies claims he limited witness wording to call China a ‘challenge’ rather than an ‘enemy’.
• Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle is taking legal advice on a possible private prosecution, though the DPP can assume conduct of such cases and discontinue them if evidential tests are not met.
• Conservative MP Alicia Kearns, who says she was targeted, plans to press for sanctions on the Chinese Communist Party and has voiced fears her Taiwan hotel room may have been bugged.
• A senior minister is expected to be called to the Commons to explain the government’s handling of the case, with opposition figures demanding clarity on what was known and when.