LONDON — A woman branded a Chinese spy by UK's MI5 has lost her case to sue the spy agency over an alert issued to politicians that said she was an agent working for Beijing.

Lawyer Christine Lee sued MI5 over the alert issued in January 2022 in which it alleged she was "involved in political interference activities" in UK on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party.

The warning was circulated to lawmakers by the House of Commons Speaker, who said MI5 found that Lee "facilitated financial donations to serving and aspiring parliamentarians on behalf of foreign nationals based in Hong Kong and China".

Lee was born in Hong Kong and founded a firm providing consultancy services to Chinese migrants.

She helped set up a parliamentary committee, chaired by Barry Gardiner, a lawmaker for the then opposition Labour Party, designed to discuss issues affecting the Chinese community in UK.

Gardiner said he received hundreds of thousands of pounds in donations from her, and her son worked in his office.

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