Revealed: Parliamentary aide, 29, and an ex

A parliamentary aide and a teacher who were yesterday charged with passing secrets to Beijing taught together at a school in China. 

Chris Cash, 29, a former director of an influential China policy group with links to security minister Tom Tugendhat and foreign affairs committee chairman Alicia Kearns, is accused of passing on 'information that might be useful to an enemy'.

His former colleague Christopher Berry, 32, was charged with the same espionage offences under the Official Secrets Act.

It can now be revealed that the two alleged spies both secured teaching jobs in the country. 

As young graduates, they taught together at Hangzhou Oriental Middle School near Shanghai in 2018.

Parliamentary aide Chris Cash (left) and teacher Christopher Berry, who were yesterday charged with passing secrets to Beijing, taught together at a school in China 

READ MORE: Parliamentary researcher, 29, is charged with spying for China: GP's public school boy son is charged alongside man, 32, for offence under Official Secrets Act after probe by counter terror cops 

The son of a GP, Cash enjoyed a privileged upbringing, attending the £5,000-a-term George Watson's College in Edinburgh before studying at the University of St Andrews.

He taught English for two years in China then returned to the UK to study for an MSc in China and globalisation at King's College London. In 2021, he started work in Parliament as a researcher employed by Ms Kearns. 

Cash worked for the China Research Group which was set up by Mr Tugendhat, but abruptly disappeared from Westminster after his arrest last March.

He later released a statement through the law firm Birnberg Peirce, saying the allegations were 'against everything I stand for'.

Cash said at the time he had spent his career 'trying to educate others about the challenge and threats presented by the Chinese Communist Party'.

Berry initially taught economics and English in China, but later moved to promoting Chinese landmarks, making YouTube videos about heritage sites and extolling the virtues of Zhejiang province's lakes.

In an online blog, he posted clips describing a typical day as a teacher in China.

The father-of-one is understood to have returned to the UK a number of years ago with his Chinese wife and now works in digital marketing.

Cash (far right) is pictured with Tory MP Alicia Kearns (left) and Steven Lynch, former managing director of the British Chamber of Commerce in China (middle)

Cash, who insists he is 'completely innocent', grew up in a wealthy suburb of Edinburgh and attended £5,000-a-term George Watson's College

Neighbours last night told how Berry and his wife, along with their young son, had moved back to the family home in Witney, Oxfordshire.

One neighbour, who asked not to be named, said: 'I believe he went over to teach English as a foreign language, met her over there and stayed. They seem lovely.'

The two men are accused of providing secret information to a foreign state by obtaining, collecting, recording, publishing or communicating notes, documents or information which might be, or were intended to be, directly or indirectly useful to an enemy.

Cash is charged with breaching section one of the 1911 Official Secrets Act between January 2022 and February last year. Berry is accused of committing the same offence between December 2021 and February 2023.

The two defendants will appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Friday.

In a YouTube video posted two years ago, Chris Berry praises a lake in the Zhejiang province

Berry, 32, from Oxfordshire, is accused of spying between December 28, 2021 and February 3, 2023, under the Official Secrets Act 1911. He previously taught in the Hangzhou region

Berry previously taught economics and English in the Hangzhou region, in eastern China

Nick Price, head of the Crown Prosecution Service's special crime and counterterrorism division, said: 'The CPS counterterrorism division has today authorised the Metropolitan Police to charge two men with espionage offences.'

Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Met Police's counterterrorism command, said: 'This has been an extremely complex investigation into what are very serious allegations. We've worked closely with the CPS as our investigation has progressed.'

Yesterday China dismissed the charges as a 'political farce'.

A spokesman for the Chinese embassy in London said it was 'completely fabricated and nothing but malicious slander' to suggest Beijing was suspected of 'stealing British intelligence'.

'We firmly oppose it and urge the UK side to stop anti-China political manipulation and stop putting on such self-staged political farce,' the spokesman said.