Howard Michael Phillips, 65, is standing trial at Winchester crown court for allegedly trying to pass information to Russia’s foreign intelligence service
A man on trial for spying was trying to pass on information to the Russians about Tory MP Grant Shapps when he was Minister of Defence, a court heard.
Howard Michael Phillips, 65, from Harlow, is on trial at Winchester crown court for allegedly trying to pass information to Russia’s foreign intelligence service. But the court heard today that instead of speaking to foreign operatives he was actually speaking to Mi5 agents posing as Russian spooks.
Phillips is alleged to have acquired personal contact details and sensitive information on Mr Shapps and wanted to pass these on to Moscow for money. The jury was told how, at the time last year, Phillips was applying for a job with the Border Force Agency and was seeking security clearance he could use to help pass on sensitive information.
Prosecutor Jocelyn Ledward KC, told the court: “The member of parliament in question was the right honorable grant Shapps, who, at the time was MP for the constituency of William Hatfield, but also, and perhaps more importantly.
“He was at the time the Secretary of State for defence, as you will well appreciate a senior ministerial role, a member of the cabinet with, of all things, overall responsibility for the Ministry of Defence, as well as acquiring and retaining that personal contact information.
“The prosecution alleged that the defendant disclosed that personal contact detail and information relating to grant Shapps to the Foreign Intelligence Service, had the defendant succeeded in any or all of what he was intending to do, any or all of those acts could have had very serious consequences indeed.”
The court was told how Phillips made a written pledge to the fake agents in which he promised ‘100 per cent loyalty’ and also boasted of how he could move ‘under the radar’ because of his security clearances. He bragged he could be ‘totally hidden’ and serve a ‘foreign power’ and even came up with the codeword ‘mother’ for Moscow, it was said.
The court was told Phillips, who used to work in insolvency, was retired but was looking for easy money. Ms Ledward KC said: “At the time we are concerned, he was unemployed, and it would seem that he had got to the point where he was struggling financially.
“That appears to have been a very significant factor in his eagerness and his desire to provide assistance to the Russian intelligence service.
“The evidence you may think, in due course, once you’ve heard it, we suggest, shows he was keen to offer assistance, not necessarily for any ideological reason or because he sympathized with the Russian state, but particularly because he wanted to be financially rewarded for so doing easy and perhaps interesting or exciting work for easy money.”
Shapps served as Secretary of State for Defence during the Ukraine and Russia war, and would have held negotiations with Volodymyr Zelensky. He was defeated in last year’s general election and lost his seat.
Phillips was arrested in central London on May 16, 2024, by the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command, which also searched properties in Hertfordshire and Essex.
He faces charges under section 3 of the National Security Act 2023 in the UK for allegedly assisting a foreign intelligence service, specifically Russia. Phillips has pleaded not guilty to all the charges. The trial continues
