A UK man arrested on suspicion of spying for China went to Nepal with Princess Beatrice, The i Paper can reveal.
David Taylor, 39, the husband of Labour MP Joani Reid, was arrested in London on Wednesday morning.
He and the princess went on a nine-day charity trip with several others in October 2016 to health projects in Nepal, India and Bhutan.
While there is no suggestion Beatrice knew anything of Taylor’s alleged activities, the photograph shows how well connected the public affairs professional was among Britain’s elite.
The trip was organised by the Franks Family Foundation, a charity of which the princess is a patron. The seven-strong group travelled by car through Asia and saw the work of Dr Sandek Ruit, a Nepalese eye surgeon who treats patients for free. Funds for the foundation come solely from its founder Simon Franks.
According to a contemporary local report, the group visited Nepal’s Tilganga Eye Centre, and Muskan Sewa Nepal Children’s Home. The princess also held a private meeting with the Bhutanese royal family.
Franks confirmed the trip to The i Paper and said: “Princess Beatrice has worked tirelessly for the foundation for over a decade supporting our education and public health projects in Laos, Cambodia and Nepal, to which she has travelled on many occasions for the foundation.
“On one of those trips Princess Beatrice accompanied a team of doctors across Nepal, India and Bhutan. David Taylor, who was a policy advisor for the foundation, was also on that trip.”
He claimed Princess Beatrice “did not know him prior and has not seen him since” and added: “During his time as a policy advisor to the foundation, I found David to be a kind, charitable and proud Brit. I am astonished by the arrest.”
In 2024, Princess Beatrice’s father Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was also mired in controversy over his links to alleged Chinese spy Yang Tengbo.
Tengbo ran the then Duke of York’s Pitch@Palace in China, a Dragons’ Den-style project designed to encourage entrepreneurs. He was banned from the UK after security services accused him of engaging in “covert and deceptive activity” for the Chinese Communist Party. Yang denied wrongdoing.
Last month Mountbatten-Windsor was released under investigation after arrest for misconduct in public office in connection to the Epstein files. The former prince has consistently and strenuously denied any wrongdoing.
The latest arrests over alleged China spying have rocked Westminster and Cardiff. On Wednesday two other men were also arrested under the National Security Act, Steve Jones, 68, a former Welsh government special adviser and Matthew Aplin, 43, a former Labour press officer.
A Senedd source described Aplin as a “Labour man through and through” but claimed he recently quit the party to join Reform. On Wednesday Reform UK, when asked by The i Paper, denied Aplin was a member. However, on Thursday the party’s Welsh leader Dan Thomas confirmed he did hold membership.
Thomas told ITV Wales: “I have just heard that he used to be a member of Reform. He isn’t a member right now and hasn’t been a member recently.”
Jones served as a special adviser to Hilary Armstrong – now Baroness Armstrong – the UK Government’s chief whip during Tony Blair’s premiership, then as an adviser to the Welsh Cabinet between 2009 and 2014, according to a profile of him on a company website.
All three men were released on bail on Thursday.
Searches were carried out at the properties where the arrests were made, as well as at three other addresses in London, East Kilbride and Cardiff. A fourth man, Welsh journalist Martin Shipton, has confirmed in an article for Nation.Cymru that his home in Cardiff was also searched by police in connection with the investigation. He said he gave a voluntary statement, and was not arrested.
Joani Reid with her partner David Taylor (Photo: Joani Reid/Facebook)Reid was elected as MP for East Kilbride and Strathaven in 2024, and sits on the Commons’ home affairs committee. She said she is temporarily and voluntarily standing down from Labour while an internal party inquiry takes place after her husband’s arrest.
In a statement announcing the suspension, Reid said: “I want to reiterate something very important: I am not under investigation by the police and no accusations have been against me.”
Her husband, Taylor, is the current head of programs at Asia House, a think-tank leading engagement between Asia and Europe. He previously worked as a special advisor to the Secretary of State for Wales in 2010 before spending two years as a senior political advisor for Labour.
In his role at Asia House, he oversaw the secretariat role for Parliament’s All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Central Asia – a group of MPs who aim to promote relations between the UK and Central Asian countries. On Wednesday the APPG said it had suspended its secretariat.
On his LinkedIn profile, Taylor said he was responsible for overseeing “the development and execution of strategic initiatives that connect senior government officials, business leaders, and thought leaders on critical regional and global issues”.
Publicly available corporate records show Taylor is the director of a number of businesses, including a lobbying firm named Earthcott Ltd.
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In a statement following the arrests, Reid said: “I have never seen anything to make me suspect my husband has broken any law.”
She added: “I have never been to China. I have never spoken on China or China related matters in the Commons. I have never asked a question on China-related matters.”
Security minister Dan Jarvis confirmed the arrests on Wednesday and said the Government would “not tolerate” attempts by Beijing to “obtain information on UK policymaking and interfere with our sovereign affairs”.
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