Overview

• Home Affairs chair Dame Karen Bradley and Justice chair Andy Slaughter wrote to DPP Stephen Parkinson seeking a clear explanation for the dropped espionage charges.
• They said the CPS’s brief statement was inadequate and asked what changed in the evidence, requesting a reply by October 8 that they plan to publish.
• The CPS halted the prosecution on September 15 after prosecutor Tom Little KC told the Old Bailey the evidential standard for Official Secrets Act offences was no longer met.
• Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle warned Parliament could be vulnerable to foreign actors and said he is considering a private action against the two men.
• Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry, who had been due to stand trial in October, denied wrongdoing; Cash said he was relieved and his lawyer called the case ill-judged.