UK’s Metropolitan police arrested two men over allegations that a parliamentary researcher spied for China, The Guardian reported.

The researcher is reported to have been linked to multiple senior Tory MPs, including Tom Tugendhat, the security minister and Alicia Kearns, the foreign affairs committee chair.

The suspect was arrested along with another man by UK officers on March 13, the Sunday Times revealed.

Metropolitan police’s counter-terrorism command officers, which oversees espionage-related offences, are investigating the matter.

Among the two men, one was detained in Oxfordshire, while the other was arrested in Edinburgh, Scotland Yard said.

“Searches were also carried out at both the residential properties, as well as at a third address in east London,” it added in a statement.

They were detained at a south London police station prior to their bail until early October.

The Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China group said it was “appalled at reports of the infiltration of the UK parliament by someone allegedly acting on behalf of the People’s Republic of China”.

Tugendhat is said not to have had any contact with the researcher since before he became security minister in September last year.

While declining to comment on the matter, Kearns said: “While I recognise the public interest, we all have a duty to ensure any work of the authorities is not jeopardised.”

The arrests came days after UK foreign secretary James Cleverly visited Beijing amid criticism from some senior Conservative critics of China.

He insisted that the UK would seek a “pragmatic” relationship with China to tackle major global issues such as the climate crisis.

Downing Street and the House of Commons both declined to comment, citing their policies on security matters.