Dead Briton in China scandal had 'no UK government role'

The dead British businessman at the centre of the biggest political scandal in China for decades was not employed by the British government, Foreign Secretary William Hague said on Thursday.

Neil Heywood was found dead in a hotel room in the southwestern city of Chongqing in November.

The case took a dramatic turn this month when the wife of the city's former party leader Bo Xilai was named as a suspect in his alleged murder.

The British parliament's foreign affairs committee had asked Hague whether Heywood had been working as a spy, feeding information from powerful Chinese officials to the British embassy in Beijing.

In a letter to the head of the committee, Richard Ottaway, Hague wrote: "The committee will recognise that it is long established government policy neither to confirm nor deny speculation of this sort.

"However, given the intense interest in this case it is, exceptionally, appropriate for me to confirm that Mr Heywood was not an employee of the British government in any capacity."

Hague added that Heywood was "only an occasional contact" of the British embassy in Beijing, where he attended several meetings connected to his business.

He was not known at all to the British Consulate-General in Chongqing.

Heywood had reportedly forged close links with Bo, who was removed from the Politburo at the same time as his wife Gu Kailai was named as a suspect.