The Times corrects claim linking analyst to Chinese intelligence and misattributed comments between senior peers

The Times has issued a correction to an opinion column and accompanying news story that mischaracterised allegations against analyst Chris Cash, and misattributed remarks between two senior members of the House of Lords.

The clarification, published on October 20, acknowledges that the articles wrongly stated Mr Cash had been accused of writing reports commissioned by Chinese intelligence. In fact, he was accused only of providing information for such reports — an allegation he denies in full.

In addition, comments attributed in digital editions to Lord Macdonald of River Glaven, the former Director of Public Prosecutions, were in fact made by Lord McDonald of Salford, the former head of the UK diplomatic service. The newspaper apologised for the error, noting that it was introduced during editing.

The conflation of the two peers and the inaccurate wording regarding Mr Cash’s alleged role created a misleading impression of both culpability and source credibility. The original phrasing effectively implied a deeper level of involvement with Chinese intelligence activity than had been claimed, a distinction with serious reputational consequences.