Prince Andrew deserves a medal, says former diplomat

A former diplomat has said that Prince Andrew deserves a medal for forcing the UK government to put threats from China at the top of the political agenda.

A report on the Chinese spy linked to the Duke of York quoted Charlie Parton as saying, “We should give Prince Andrew a medal,” Charlie Parton told me. “He’s managed to achieve since this row began five days ago what some of us have been urging for more than five years — getting a government to put threats from China at the top of the political agenda.”

According to unherd.com,  Charlie Parton, who spent 22 years working in and on China for the Foreign Office  is now a senior adviser at the Council on Geostrategy.

He told the outlet that the key to understanding the China's' UFWD,  the Communist Party’s United Front Work Department, is to see those who work with it as “agents of influence”. 

While trying to establish the alleged spy's link to the Chinese government, the report also said that Yang Tengbo,Yang, became an honorary member of the 48 Group Club, a UK-China friendship organisation founded in 1949 that hosts events and publishes reports and blogs praising the Chinese leadership. It said the organization's website contains a star-studded list of fellows including former British prime minister Tony Blair.