A LABOUR MP whose husband is accused of spying for China has been enjoying trysts with a married Holyrood figure, we can reveal.
Joani Reid, 40, was spotted sharing cosy meals and staying overnight with the high-profile man in her East Kilbride constituency.
The pair on another tryst Credit: The Scottish Jattvibe
Estranged . . . Reid & hubby Taylor
It comes as lobbyist spouse David Taylor, 39, remains at the centre of a Met Police counter- terrorism probe on suspicion of “targeting UK democracy”.
Reid revealed she had returned to the party’s ranks amid a China spying scandal hours after her overnight stay with the high-profile Holyrood figure.
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The Scot announced she’d had the whip restored at Westminster four months after husband David Taylor was arrested on suspicion of assisting a foreign intelligence service.
But we can reveal Reid, 40, had a series of public meet-ups in her East Kilbride constituency with a married man who is well known in the Scottish Parliament.
The revelations also come after she was accused of being “flirty” with two naval officers at Faslane nuclear subs base on the Clyde.
Last night details of her affair with the parliament-linked man sparked a claim Reid’s “reckless” behaviour could leave her open to “compromise and blackmail”.
Reid’s video Credit: Instagram
The pair head off together for her home Credit: Not known, clear with picture desk
She had voluntarily suspended herself from Labour’s Commons group on March 5 but revealed her return in an online statement on the evening of Thursday, July 30.
But just hours earlier Reid and the married man had been seen leaving her flat — the morning after they had dined out together.
The pair had been spotted at 7.30pm on the Wednesday at Zucca restaurant in East Kilbride, close to Reid’s office and home. At 8.55pm, they were pictured together walking the short distance to her pad. Reid was wearing a pink North Face jacket and blue jeans.
The man had on a pair of jeans plus a beige jacket with hood.
Reid is seen leaving pad around 30mins after the man
Her message
He was spotted leaving the MP’s property at 8.45am the following morning in the same outfit.
Around 30 minutes later, Reid left in her motor and made the short drive to her constituency office. She wore a blue skirt with flat animal print shoes and a denim jacket.
And Reid appeared to have the same outfit on ten hours later as she announced her comeback in a video posted on social media.
She told her 1,202 followers on Instagram: “I just wanted everyone to know my suspension from the Labour Party has now been lifted and I’m back as a Labour MP.
“It brings to an end a really difficult period for me and I wanted to say thank you to all the people and constituents who got in touch with messages of support and kindness.
“And finally I just wanted to remind and reassure you that I have never been part of a police investigation, either as a suspect or even as a witness.”
The Scottish Jattvibe also has evidence that the man — who we are not naming for legal reasons — met with Reid twice last month.
They were spotted inside East Kilbride’s Mata Hari restaurant, having joined Reid’s fellow Labour members at a bash to back MSP Joe Fagan’s bid to be elected as the party’s next Scottish leader.
Rocked by six months of turmoil
BY CHRIS TAYLOR
THE latest controversy involving Joani Reid comes just over two years after she became a Labour MP at the July 2024 General Election.
She’d told earlier how she had been inspired to stand for the East Kilbride and Strathaven seat while watching TV with her gran — who said she was “very concerned” for the country’s future.
And during the campaign, she told voters she knew “the challenges that local families face” and insisted that the “community deserves better”.
After husband David Taylor was arrested in March over claims of spying for China, Reid said she was not part of his “business activities”.
But accounts for her now-liquidated firm Reid Strategy revealed she received nearly £24,000 in interest-free loans from two companies where he was listed as a director.
In 2022 her consultancy business had assets of just £2,870. A year later they were £442,103, with shareholders’ funds rocketing from £1,351 to £311,836. The firm was dissolved in August last year.
They shared a meal in Zucca Credit: Les Gallagher
The pair later spent some time in her flat before the man left a short time later, wearing a baseball cap. He then made his way to his motor in a public car park. On one occasion he was also seen walking to the door of Reid’s flat while she took a phone call in the garden.
The apartment is a short distance from the four-bedroom family home in the town’s St Leonards that was searched as part of the ongoing investigation into her husband by the Met’s counter-terrorism cops.
A source said Reid was now “estranged” from Taylor, but the Holyrood figure she was involved with still lives with his wife.
Last night Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay said: “Following her husband’s arrest over allegations that he spied for China, this Labour MP’s own conduct has already been under the spotlight. So for her to engage in such risky and reckless behaviour further calls into question her judgment and that of her party.
“Hostile states like Russia and China are seeking to undermine our country, which means all elected representatives have a responsibility to be alert to the risk of compromise and blackmail.”
We told in March how Taylor, 39, was one of three men arrested on suspicion of spying for China and “targeting UK democracy”.
The lobbyist was held in London while PR firm boss Matthew Aplin, 43, an a 68-year-old unnamed man were nabbed in Wales.
Reid — who is a granddaughter of the late shipyard union boss Jimmy Reid — has said repeatedly she never saw anything to make her suspect her husband had broken the law.
High-flyer influence
REID is one of 11 MPs sitting on Westminster’s Home Affairs Select Committee, which has launched inquiries into organised crime, security and combating extremism.
She joined the panel just months after being elected and continued as a member during her Labour suspension.
The granddaughter of late Clydeside union legend Jimmy Reid graduated in politics and philosophy from Glasgow Uni before leaving the city to obtain a masters degree in public policy in London.
Reid was a councillor in Lewisham from 2014-2022 but returned to Scotland to stand in East Kilbride and Strathaven. She got 22,682 votes in the 2024 election, securing a 9,057 majority over the SNP candidate Grant Costello.
The Metropolitan Police said in May that all three suspects would remain on bail.
Reid insisted in March: “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.”
Her Welsh husband is director of policy at Asia House, a think-tank which say is dedicated to “fostering meaningful dialogue between Asia, the Middle East, and Europe”.
He was previously a special adviser to Labour Welsh Secretary Peter Hain from 2009 to 2010.
Last November Taylor was pictured shaking hands with former Chinese minister Jin Liqun, who was then boss of Beijing-based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.
Reid, an MP since July 2024, went on: “I have never seen anything to make me suspect my husband has broken any law. I am not part of my husband’s business activities.”
It emerged this April that she had been accused of inappropriate behaviour with two senior Royal Navy officers. Reid allegedly was “all over” one of the men during a drunken night in the officers’ mess at the Faslane base in Argyll.
She left the Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme following the alleged incident last year.
An MP said they reported Reid due to fears that information about Britain’s nuclear deterrent could end up in enemy hands.
But a senior source said they were satisfied there was “no link” to the China spy case.
Separately, it was reported that a married submarine captain stepped down following another probe into a suspected relationship with Reid.
Insiders said allegations of “flirtatious” messages were probed by Navy chiefs and the captain was not found to have broken any rules.
In April, Nats MP Kirsty Blackman said the China spying claims and later revelations were “a scandal of unprecedented proportions”.
At the time, a source close to Reid said allegations of national security concerns due to her behaviour were “opportunistic hypocrisy — as shown by the nearly a year gap between the events and the report”.
We approached Reid but she declined to comment, as did Labour. The man did not respond to requests for comment.
