Sir Richard Deerlove, the former head of MI6 came right out with his take on the event as it was just ramping up back in June / July 2016
First they laughed at him - yes, the former head of MI6 was mocked.
They're not laughing now.
Source - 100s of these but many behind paywalls : https://unherd.com/newsroom/sir-richard-dearlove-british-elites-are-chinas-useful-idiots/