All bow, no backbone: Starmer hands China a propaganda victory, writes Priti Patel
Starmer’s bowing to Beijing has humiliated Britain.
Desperate to escape the plotting and infighting of the Labour parliamentary party, Keir Starmer has gone off to spend a few days in the company of his Chinese Communist Party friends.
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Labour’s operation kowtow, with Keir Starmer following in the footsteps of his Chancellor in paying homage to the CCP, has yielded nothing for Britain except showing a humiliating level of weakness.
Starmer may relish the pomp, pageantry and warm embrace given to him by President Xi, but we all see him being played by a dangerous and brutal authoritarian regime desperate to exploit the willingness and desperation of useful idiots.
Let’s be clear: China – along with Russia – is the biggest national security threat Briain faces. As a former Home Secretary, I’ve seen their tactics and the methods they deploy, and it should frighten and concern us all. They undermine our cyber security.
They place spies in the heart of our democratic institutions and businesses. They undertake acts of transnational repression, threatening Hong Kongers living here putting bounties on their heads.
They continue to repress freedoms in Hong Kong and imprison Jimmy Lai, while they violate human rights or minorities including the Uyghurs.
China is also part of the axis of authoritarian states, backing Putin’s Russia and the despotic terrorists in Tehran, as they too threaten our interests, wage war in Ukraine and brutally repress their own people.
But what has our weak and feeble Prime Minister done in response? He has rewarded the Chinese Communist Party by granting them planning permission for their super embassy spy hub in the heart of London and given President Xi a huge propaganda victory by paying homage to him.
Images of Starmer with Xi, along with the National Security Advisor Jonathan Powell meeting with the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, are being broadcast far and wide. Is it any wonder that Xi has started bragging about how much he enjoys and welcomes there being a Labour Government in Britain. Those comments alone should send shivers down our spines.
Worse still, the Prime Minister achieved nothing of any value in Beijing - the visit was all give and no take. Jimmy Lai is still languishing in horrific conditions in prison. Hong Kongers in Britain continue to have £100,000 bounties placed on their heads.
Our institutions remain under threat from Chinese spies and cyber attacks. While the Prime Minister claims he raised issues of concern with Xi, the official readout from Downing Street published on their website made no mention of these specific issues being discussed.
The fact Keir Starmer couldn’t even mention Jimmy Lai and campaigners like Chloe Cheung who have bounties on their heads on his own website demonstrates his complete lack of backbone. This press release from Downing Street might as well have bene drafted by the CCP.
From kowtowing to Xi in Beijing to surrendering the Chagos Island and paying £35bn for the privilege to an ally of China, Keir Starmer is incapable for leading our country through these challenging times to address the global threats we face.
While Keir Starmer is happy to be Beijing’s useful idiot in Britain, the Conservative Party under Kemi Badenoch will continue to stand up for our national interests, call out China for the threats it poses, and show the strong and decisive leadership Britain needs.
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Dame Priti Patel is the is the Shadow Foreign Secretary and Conservative MP for Witham
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