I remember the anticipation of going to meet my first niece when she was born during Lib Dem conference at Harrogate. At least I only had a 4 hour train ride in the same country to take to meet this beautiful new person. And nobody to stand in the way of me meeting her.

I can only imagine how our Wera Hobhouse must be feeling. She and her husband William went to Hong Kong on Thursday to meet their baby grandson for the first time and the Chinese authorities simply would not let her in. Even more cruelly they decided that they would admit William. However, they both flew back and have been talking to the Times (£)  about their ordeal, which included several hours of interrogation by immigration officials.

Hobhouse has never visited Hong Kong and had been excited about spending time with her son’s family, having seen them only a handful of times in recent years. “My son was waiting at the other end at arrivals,” she said. “I couldn’t even see him and give him a hug and I hadn’t seen him in a year. When I was given the decision my voice was shaking and I was just saying: ‘Why, please explain to me?’ They never gave me an explanation. That was so cruel.

“I just said: ‘I want to see my grandson, I want to cuddle him. He was born three months ago, what is the problem?’ I am obviously devastated. I was obviously looking forward to holding [my grandson] and cuddling him and … establishing a relationship. They are obviously quite a long way away, so each month you lose is a bit of a loss for the relationship I will have with my grandson. Having to fly back, it was so hard. I didn’t cry but I was very close to tears.”

Ed Davey has written to David Lammy to ask him to complain about Wera’s treatment:

Sir Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, has written to David Lammy, the foreign secretary, asking him to “urgently” meet Hobhouse and summon the Chinese ambassador in London “to provide a full account of why a British MP and her family have been treated in such an appalling way”. He added: “The UK cannot allow the Chinese government to attempt to undermine our democracy by intimidating our parliamentarians.”

Later, he said on Twitter:

Wera just wanted to visit her son in Hong Kong and meet her baby grandson for the first time. But after a 13-hour flight, the Chinese authorities turned her away – just because she’s a British MP.

So heartless. And totally unacceptable.

Other MPs have shown solidarity with Wera:

Christine Jardine

The Foreign Secretary needs to demand an explanation for this appalling treatment of Wera Hobhouse by Chinese authorities.

Layla Moran

This is deeply shocking. I feel for Wera, on a personal trip and unable to meet her baby grandson. Her only crime? Being a British MP.
@DavidLammy must demand answers from the Chinese ambassador for this initimidatory behaviour.

Vikki Slade

Awful. I am sure there are many of us MPs who have called out regimes – perhaps we can all expect to have our travel options restricted

The Chinese authorities knew exactly what they were doing here. Turning away a Member of Parliament from entering the country on personal business is an incendiary act.

Let’s hope that David Lammy makes it clear to the Chinese ambassador that the Chinese authorities have been well out of order here.

And let’s hope it’s not too long before Wera gets to meet the wee one.

* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings