Tag Archives: uk-china relations

Mathew Hulbert

Mathew on Monday: Labour has lost its way – and the country is paying the price

By Mathew Hulbert | Mon 9th February 2026 - 4:30 pm

Watching the unfolding political drama in Westminster over recent days, you could be forgiven for wondering if the British public have been dropped into an episode of ‘Yes, Prime Minister’ rather than living real lives under a Labour government. Instead of focusing on the pressing challenges facing everyday Britons – from the cost of living to the NHS crisis – the spotlight has been firmly fixed on internal Labour turmoil, bitter factional rows and the fate of its own leadership.

The resignation on Sunday of Sir Keir Starmer’s Chief of Staff Morgan McSweeney, amid the controversy over Peter Mandelson’s appointment as UK Ambassador to the United States, was always going to make headlines. But the speed with which that story has dominated the political coverage tells you everything you need to know about where Labour’s priorities lie. McSweeney stepped down taking “full responsibility” for advising on the appointment – a move that critics argue has damaged trust in politics itself.

And, as if one senior departure wasn’t enough, the Prime Minister’s director of communications, Tim Allan, has today also quit fewer than twenty-four hours later. In a terse statement, Allan said he was making way for a “new No.10 team.”.

But what the public see is not reinvigoration – it’s retreat, upheaval and instability at the heart of government.

All this comes at a time when families across the country are still struggling with inflationary pressures on essentials and long delays in accessing NHS care. Hard-pressed workers, young people, and pensioners do not wake up each morning thinking about Downing Street personnel changes – they worry about whether their energy bills are manageable, whether their children’s surgeries are being scheduled, or whether their parents will be left waiting hours in A&E.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , and | 14 Comments
Vince Cable

Pilgrimage to Beijing

By Vince Cable | Tue 27th January 2026 - 12:02 pm

When one of the world’s superpowers becomes a totally unpredictable rogue state it makes sense to reduce dependence on it. One way of doing so is to engage more closely with the other superpower: China. That is the basic logic behind Keir Starmer’s visit to China, starting tomorrow, as it was for Canada’s Mark Carney and France’s Emmanuel Macron’s ’recent visits and Germany’s Chancellor Merz next month.

The Starmer visit is particularly significant for two reasons. First, Britain is one of the closest allies of the USA and most dependent on it. Starmer has, hitherto, gone to considerable lengths to avoid offending Trump, infuriating many of his supporters. Second, the UK’s relations with China have been particularly bad ever since Theresa May’s visit in 2018 and are far removed from the optimistic ‘golden era’ of the Coalition period (in which I was directly involved, with several official visits to China).

But the significance should not be exaggerated. Britain, these days, is a ‘middle power’ rather than a great power. British politicians once boasted about Britain being the ‘fifth biggest economy in the world’. The latest IMF and World Bank rankings for GDP (Purchasing Power basis) have the UK as 10th, just behind France and some way behind Brazil and Indonesia. Turkey lurks at 11th. This, together with a continuing struggle against economic stagnation and our divorce from the EU, means that the UK has less clout than in the ‘golden era’. The ruthlessly unsentimental Chinese will adjust their expectations accordingly.

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Tom Arms

Tom Arms’ World Review

By Tom Arms | Sun 19th October 2025 - 8:30 am

As I write this, Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky, is preparing to sit down in the Oval Office with President Donald Trump.

The Ukrainian leader had high hopes for this meeting. Trump had broadly hinted that he was prepared to give Ukraine Tomahawk missiles. These weapons can be launched from air, land or sea and have a range of 1,500 miles and carry an enormous payload.

That means that Ukraine could launch the missiles from anywhere inside Ukraine or on the Black Sea and easily hit targets in Moscow and beyond. Up to now the West has been reluctant to provide Ukraine with long-range weaponry for fear that it would escalate the conflict. These missiles are a game changer.

Then, while Zelensky, was in mid-flight, Trump and Vladimir Putin had another marathon telephone session—two and a half hours.

Putin held out the golden carrot of “colossal” trade projects for America once the Ukraine War ended and sanctions were lifted.

Nothing tempts Trump more than money. Putin stressed that money came with peace and that he had control over when that peace came—not Zelensky.

So, Trump agreed to hold another meeting Putin; sometime in the next fortnight in Hungary. It is likely, but not certain, that the Tomahawks to Ukraine deal will go on ice or out the window altogether.

In the meantime, Putin is increasing the military pressure on Ukraine. On Thursday night there were dozens of Russian missile attacks and 300 drone attacks on Ukrainian targets. They mainly hit gas and electricity infrastructure as Ukrainians prepare for another hard, cold winter.

These attacks—and a wavering Trump—seem to be Putin’s main cards. The frontline is at stalemate and the Russian economy is struggling from sanctions and Ukrainian attacks on oil depots.

Britain’s collapsed Chinese spy case has brought into focus the structure and nature of Chinese intelligence.

Basically, when we talk about the Chinese intelligence service we are talking about the Ministry of State Security, aka MSS. Although, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is responsible for military intelligence.

The MSS is huge. One unofficial estimate puts the number of employees at 100,000. One former diplomat pointed that is only the ones on the payroll, “the rest of the population are unpaid interns.”

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Posted in Europe / International | Also tagged , , and | 12 Comments
Humphrey Hawksley

The need for cross-Party policy on China

By Humphrey Hawksley | Sat 18th October 2025 - 2:15 pm

Why is there not yet a cross-party policy toward the way Britain handles China? After all, we have cross-party support on Ukraine and Russia.

Like oil and water, intelligence does not mix well with public debate, and the current spy case would be better handled with less damage behind the scenes by mature politicians.

The Labour government is still finding its feet. The Conservatives snap around like playground bullies.

The Liberal Democrats could take a lead here by making clear that the security of the nation stands way above political scalp hunting and click-bait sound bites for the 24-hour news cycles. …

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Posted in Europe / International and Op-eds | 2 Comments
Mark Valladares

7 October 2025 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Tue 7th October 2025 - 11:00 pm
  • Lib Dems warn of ‘Trumpian purge’ as Jenrick targets 35 Judges
  • Lib Dems demand Labour publish any legal advice sought on alleged “blocking” of Chinese spy trial
  • Greene brings childcare debate to parliament
  • August 2025 the worst August on record at A&E
  • Operations activity stagnating below pre-pandemic levels
  • Cole-Hamilton: SNP have ripped up promises on delayed discharges
  • Rennie: SNP have barely moved an inch with cladding work
  • Rennie responds to survey showing teachers taking second jobs

Lib Dems warn of ‘Trumpian purge’ as Jenrick targets 35 Judges

Responding to reports that if the Conservatives were elected, Robert Jenrick would seek to dismiss 35 judges due to perceived activism, Liberal Democrat Justice Spokesperson Jess Brown-Fuller said:

Robert Jenrick’s comments on removing independently appointed judges are deeply troubling and show just how far some Conservatives are willing to go to undermine our judiciary. The Conservative Party claims to believe in the rule of law, but now seems to be actively undermining it.

The idea of making it easier to sack judges for perceived ‘activism’ is straight out of the Trump playbook. The fact Jenrick has named 35 judges for this Trumpian purge is more than alarming, it’s a chilling signal of the threat to the rule of law under any potential Conservative government.

Our judges must be free to interpret and apply the law without fear of political retribution. Undermining that principle strikes at the very foundation of British democracy, a principle the Liberal Democrats will fiercely defend.

Lib Dems demand Labour publish any legal advice sought on alleged “blocking” of Chinese spy trial

The Liberal Democrats are calling for Labour to publish any legal advice the Government sought on the planned trial of two men accused of spying for China, erstwhile parliamentary staffer Chris Cash and academic Christopher Berry.

The party is also calling on the Intelligence and Security Committee to launch an investigation into the abandoned prosecution. The committee oversees the operations of the UK intelligence community – including MI5, MI6 and GCHQ – and has access to classified evidence under the Official Secrets Act.

Calum Miller MP, Liberal Democrat Foreign Affairs Spokesperson, said:

These latest revelations show that the Government would prefer to block an investigation into espionage at the heart of Westminster, rather than rock the boat with Beijing. Its campaign of cosying up to President Xi is now actively threatening our national security.

The Intelligence and Security Committee should launch an urgent review into this case. It’s also critical that the Government publishes any legal advice it sought and received.

Threats to our democracy cannot be swept under the rug. It’s time that this Government grew a backbone in its dealings with China. It was wrong not to recognise China’s threat and place it on the enhanced tier of the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme – and should reverse that decision today.

Greene brings childcare debate to parliament

Speaking ahead of his members’ business debate on childcare, Scottish Liberal Democrat West Scotland MSP Jamie Greene said that many parents feel “unfairly treated” because of the gaps in funded places under the SNP.

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Posted in News, Press releases and Scotland | Also tagged , , , , , , , , and | 1 Comment
The Voice

29 November 2022 – the overnight press release

By The Voice | Tue 29th November 2022 - 9:21 am

Sunak China speech is remarkably tone deaf

Responding to Rishi Sunak’s speech on China, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs Layla Moran said:

In the summer, Sunak talked tough on China – now he’s U-turned at the first possible opportunity. Rowing back on his previous stance is remarkably tone deaf given it comes just days after a British journalist was subject to disturbing treatment at the hands of the Chinese authorities.

The British public will be rightly concerned that the Conservative Government looks set to continue its record of failure when it comes to holding China accountable on everything from

…

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The Voice

President Xi’s next five years – What should Europe’s strategy be?

By The Voice | Sun 6th November 2022 - 4:31 pm

For readers interested in geopolitics, an event organised by the Federal International Relations Committee may be attractive.

The online webinar starts at 6.30 p.m. on Tuesday evening (8th November) and will be opened by Lord Jeremy Purvis.

George Cunningham, the panel’s moderator, will welcome:

  • renowned sinologist Prof Kerry Brown of King’s College London;
  • Vera Kranenberg, a researcher at the Clingendael China Centre
  • Reinhard Bütikofer MEP, Chair of the European Parliament Delegation for Relations with China
  • Ms Meia Nouwens, Senior Fellow for Chinese Defence Policy and Military Modernisation at International Institute for Strategic Studies

Anyone interested is asked to register in advance here.

The Federal International Relations …

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Recent Comments

  • Dennis
    The government has achieved a lot of what it promised to do, and had been on track to achieve more policies stated in their manifesto. https://fullfact.org/gove...
  • Chloe
    I've little sympathy for Starmer. But what he did deserve was to deliver that deeply personal resignation speech uninterrupted by that usual borish oaf S.Bray...
  • Slamdac
    The appears to be some British exceptionalism in these comments. I accept that the EU can't force us to have a referendum, but we can't force them to accep...
  • Nonconformistradical
    "My fear is that Labour are just changing their captain and not their policy programme. What Burnham has said so far is very confusing and disappointing." Se...
  • Mick Taylor
    Kier Starmer is a decent man, who was wholly out of his depth as PM. Everyone should read Ian Dunt's assessment on his substack https://iandunt.substack.com/ ...