Reform UK’s top media presenter has worked for a Chinese state propaganda channel within the past year, the Guardian can reveal. Ray Addison, who presents the political party’s in-house podcast and social media campaigns, fronted films about Xinjiang province – where the Chinese government is accused of committing genocide – for state media in September 2025. In the videos, entitled Raymond’s Xinjiang Stories, some of which praise Chinese infrastructure, Addison described himself as a CGTN correspondent. The series was made after Addison left GB News in 2024, where he had…
Tag: Politics
UK to halve tariff-free steel imports to counter glut of cheap Chinese metal
The UK government will halve the amount of tariff-free steel imports allowed in an attempt to counter a global oversupply of cheap Chinese metal and bolster its beleaguered local industry. New “safeguards” will be introduced on 1 July and will coincide with similar new limits being introduced by the EU for the same purposes. At the same time tariffs on steel imports above the duty-free quotas will be doubled to 50% of the product’s value. The quotas replace existing pre-Brexit rules that set import levels across the EU. The UK…
China’s Jingye seeks compensation from UK over British Steel takeover
The Chinese owner of British Steel has started a formal process under an international treaty to win compensation from the UK government over its decision to nationalise the Scunthorpe steelworks. Jingye Steel said it would seek to recover money via China’s bilateral investment treaty with the UK, after more than a year of negotiations over the size of any payout. The dispute could put pressure on the relationship between China and the UK. The decision to seek a resolution under the UK-China investment treaty is expected to give Jingye leverage…
Author of Home Office report on China reveals attempts to compromise him
The author of a Home Office-sponsored report on the Chinese state and organised crime in the UK was the target of failed honey traps and a suspected attempt to compromise him by a former British police officer, it is claimed. Dr David Wilson, whose groundbreaking analysis was declassified in February, has told of multiple attempts to influence him or discredit his work as he sought to examine the policing challenges posed by the Chinese Communist party (CCP) and criminal gangs. Among the apparent attempts to interfere with Wilson’s findings –…
Murrell used false accounting and fake invoices to hide SNP embezzlement, court hears – UK politics live
From 2h ago Murrell used false accounting records and fake invoices to cover up his embezzlement, court told The money embezzled by Peter Murrell came from SNP membership fees and donations by party members, the Edinburgh court was told. The Press Association report: double quotation markAlan Cameron KC told the high court in Edinburgh that the former SNP chief executive had embezzled the funds from SNP party bank accounts “over which he had control”. He went on: “The accused made direct transfers of money and used his party charge card…
Key questions over Mandelson vetting: did ‘mitigations’ cover links to China and Russia?
Ever since the Guardian revealed last month that Peter Mandelson was given security clearance against the advice of the UK government’s vetting agency, one question has dominated in Westminster. What were the concerns that led United Kingdom Security Vetting (UKSV) to tell the Foreign Office that his clearance should be denied in late January 2025, weeks before he was due to take up his post as ambassador to Washington? On Wednesday, the Guardian revealed several areas that multiple sources say contributed to that decision. UKSV identified concerns about associations Mandelson…
Men in the mirror: Trump and Xi’s suits put ‘chameleon effect’ to test in Beijing
When Donald Trump and Xi Jinping met for a welcome ceremony in Tiananmen Square this week with the world’s gaze on them, they mirrored one another in strikingly similar suits. Both were blue, single-breasted with flap pockets. Both had two buttons with only the top one done up. Both wore red ties. They were surrounded by scores of other men in different suits: Stephen Miller had his customary pocket square, ditto Pete Hegseth, who along with Scott Bessent wore flamboyantly stripy ties; Elon Musk wore a green tie; there were…
More private health records of UK Biobank volunteers appear on Chinese website
There have been further listings of confidential health records of UK volunteers on the Chinese website Alibaba since the breach reported last week, and the government is braced for further leaks, the science minister has said. Addressing a House of Lords debate on the attempted sale of data belonging to 500,000 UK Biobank volunteers, Patrick Vallance said the government had worked with Chinese officials to remove additional postings on the online marketplace. “New listings will emerge – there have been additional listings posted since the government were made aware of…
UK steel exports to EU at risk as bloc doubles tariffs and halves quotas
The EU is to go ahead with plans to double tariffs and halve quotas on imports of steel from July, in a move designed to curb Chinese imports but which could damage UK exports to the bloc. The decision by EU lawmakers and member states after late night talks on Monday, will reduce duty-free quotas by 47%. Exact country allocations have yet to be determined. The EU industry commissioner, Stéphane Séjourné, hailed the agreement as the “strongest ever” safeguard agreed and a “victory for our steel mills, our steelworkers and…
In the UK, Keir Starmer has few fans. I learned that in China it’s a very different story | Martin Rowson
The prime minister’s meal in a Yunnan restaurant in Beijing has spawned a national menu. The man has, bizarrely, become a phenomenon It’s always heartening when people agree with you. I had Keir Starmer down as a non-ideological technocratic centrist dad the moment I first clocked him, with a tin ear for both simple human interaction and the darker subtleties of the political arts. So despite carrying his famous “Ming vase” over the line in the 2024 election, I’ve been wholly unsurprised by him flatfooting and pratfalling through jagged shards…