Keir Starmer will reportedly visit China next week after controversial plans for Beijing to build a vast embassy in London were approved by his government. The UK prime minster will lead a delegation of blue-chip British companies, according to Reuters. The same firms, which include BP, HSBC, Intercontinental Hotels Group, Jaguar Land Rover and Rolls-Royce were also said to be among those who will join a revamped “UK-China CEO council”. There was no comment from Downing Street early on Wednesday. However, Jonathan Powell, the national security adviser, went to Beijing…
Tag: Keir Starmer
Minister tells MPs that China mega-embassy will have ‘clear security advantages’ – UK politics live
From 52m ago Minister tells MPs MI5 and GCHQ think having all Chinese diplomats on one site will have ‘clear security advantages’ In the Commons Dan Jarvis, the security minister, is taking questions from MPs about the decision to approve the Chinese “super-embassy”. He quoted from the letter written by Sir Ken McCallum, the MI5 director general, and Anne Keast-Butler, the GCHQ director, about this project, and put particular emphasis on this passage. It is worth reiterating the new embassy will replace seven different diplomatically-accredited sites across London which China…
UK government approves Chinese ‘mega embassy’ in London
The UK government has approved the construction of a vast new Chinese embassy complex in east London, despite concerns about security and its impact on political exiles in the capital. The decision by the communities secretary, Steve Reed, brings to an end, for now at least, the saga that has been running since 2018 over the site at Royal Mint Court near Tower Bridge. However, residents of Royal Mint Court plan to mount a legal challenge to the decision within weeks, amid concerns they could be forced out of their…
The best of the long read in 2025
Victor Pelevin made his name in 90s Russia with scathing satires of authoritarianism. But while his literary peers have faced censorship and fled the country, he still sells millions. Has he become a Kremlin apologist? At 18, Mustafa was told his only way out of prison was to join the regime forces. After 14 years, his past as one of Assad’s fighters could get him killed When fossilised remains were discovered in the Djurab desert in 2001, they were hailed as radically rewriting the history of our species. But not…
China has set a bear trap for Keir Starmer – and our naive PM is walking straight into it | Simon Tisdall
The UK pushed hard to secure the release of Jimmy Lai, the newspaper publisher and British citizen who was a leading light in Hong Kong’s brutally suppressed pro-democracy movement. So, too, did press freedom and human rights campaigners. But the Beijing-appointed high court judges in the former colony convicted him anyway, finding Lai guilty last week on fake charges of trying to “destabilise” the Chinese Communist party (CCP). For Xi Jinping, China’s dictator-emperor, there is no greater crime. Protesting to China’s ambassador, the UK’s foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper, condemned the…
UK condemns Hong Kong’s ‘politically motivated’ targeting of Jimmy Lai after conviction
The UK government and international rights groups have condemned the conviction of former pro-democracy newspaper owner and British citizen Jimmy Lai in Hong Kong on national security charges. On Monday, Lai, 78, was found guilty in West Kowloon district court on one count of conspiracy to publish seditious publications and two counts of conspiracy to foreign collusion. The charges were brought under the city’s punitive national security law (NSL), introduced in 2020, and a British colonial-era sedition law that has been used in recent years by authorities. The pro-democracy activist…
The Guardian view on Trump and Europe: more an abusive relationship than an alliance | Editorial
Sir Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron and Friedrich Merz have become adept at scrambling to deal with the latest bad news from Washington. Their meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Downing Street on Monday was so hastily arranged that Mr Macron needed to be back in Paris by late afternoon to meet Croatia’s prime minister, while Mr Merz was due on television for an end-of-year Q&A with the German public. But diplomatic improvisation alone cannot fully answer Donald Trump’s structural threat to European security. The US president and his emissaries are trying…
Jenrick rules out defecting to Reform as Farage denies report of election pact with Tories – UK politics live
From 30m ago Jenrick rules out defecting to Reform UK Some senior Reform UK figures think Nigel Farage should get Robert Jenrick to defect from the Tories, offering him the post of Reform’s candidate for chancellor, Steven Swinford from the Times reports. He also says Tory figures believe that Jenrick is unhappy because Kemi Badenoch is in a stronger position than she was, meaning that Jenrick’s chances of replacing her are fading a bit. Jenrick himself does not sound keen to go. Asked on Times Radio this morning about the…
UK government delays decision on China’s super-embassy until January
The government has delayed its decision on whether to approve China’s super-embassy in London until January, when Keir Starmer is expected to visit Beijing. Ministers are expected to greenlight the controversial plans after formal submissions by the Home Office and Foreign Office raised no objections on security grounds. The Guardian reported last month that the security services had signalled to ministers that they could handle the security risks of the embassy, which would be China’s biggest diplomatic outpost in the world. A government spokesperson said on Tuesday that consolidating China’s…
Starmer refuses to rule out freezing tax thresholds as Badenoch criticises budget plans – UK politics live
From 51m ago Starmer refuses to rule out freezing tax thresholds in budget Badenoch asks Starmer to confirm he won’t break another promise by freezing thresholds. Starmer does not answer that, saying the budget is next week. But Labour won’t return to austerity, he says. Share <gu-island name="KeyEventsCarousel" priority="feature" deferuntil="visible" props="{"keyEvents":[{"id":"691db7368f082fb6e8672411","elements":[{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":" Lee Anderson (Reform UK) accuses Labour of “dog whistle politics”. That generates laughter from MPs. Reform is cracking on with the day job, he says. He says Reform councils are working, he says. He asks Starmer to confirm the…