David Taylor and the royal were members of a small group who travelled together on a nine-day charity engagement to Asia
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.
While there is no suggestion that Beatrice knew anything of Taylor’s alleged activities, the photograph shows how well-connected the public affairs professional was among Britain’s elite.
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The trip was organised by the Franks Family Foundation, a charity of which Beatrice is a patron. The seven-strong group travelled by car through Asia and saw the work of Dr Sanduk 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 Bhutan’s 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 adviser for the foundation, was also on that trip.”
He claimed Beatrice “did not know him prior and has not seen him since” and added: “During his time as a policy adviser to the foundation, I found David to be a kind, charitable and proud Brit. I am astonished by the arrest.”
In 2024, Beatrice’s father, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, was also involved 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 any wrongdoing.
Last month, Mountbatten-Windsor was released under investigation after being arrested for misconduct in public office in connection with the Epstein files. He has consistently and strenuously denied any wrongdoing.
The latest arrests over alleged Chinese 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 had recently quit the party to join Reform.
On Wednesday, Reform UK, when asked by The i Paper, denied that Aplin was a member. However, on Thursday, the party’s Welsh leader, Dan Thomas, confirmed he had held 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 previously served as a special adviser to Hilary Armstrong – now Baroness Armstrong – the UK government’s chief whip during Tony Blair’s premiership. He was 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.
Welsh journalist Martin Shipton has confirmed in an article for Nation.Cymru that police also searched his home in Cardiff in connection with the investigation. He said he gave a voluntary statement and was not arrested.
James Robinson, a former aide to ex-Labour deputy leader Tom Watson, confirmed that police had searched his home as part of the Chinese spying investigation.
In a statement, he said: “I would like to make it absolutely clear that I have neither been detained, arrested nor questioned in connection with this, or any other, matter.”
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 House of Commons Home Affairs Committee. She said she was 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 made against me.”
Her husband, Taylor, is the current head of programmes at Asia House, a think-tank leading engagement between Asia and Europe. He previously worked as a special adviser to the Secretary of State for Wales in 2010 before spending two years as a senior political adviser for Labour.
In his role at Asia House, he oversaw the secretariat 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 that he is the director of several businesses, including lobbying firm 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”.