Kevin Schofield is Politics Editor of HuffPost UK.
Starmer is the first PM in six years to hold face-to-face talks with the Chinese leader as the government attempts to improve relations with the communist state.
In the Commons today, MPs debated the controversy surrounding a Chinese businessman with links to Prince Andrew who has been accused of spying for Beijing.Philp said: “Given what we’ve learned and what we know, these very close relations which the prime minister is apparently attempting may not be wise.“And the rather sycophantic tone that the prime minister took with President Xi at the G20 a few weeks ago may not be very wise in light of what we now know.
But security minister Dan Jarvis hit back: “In terms of the approach to China, I don’t agree with his characterisation of the prime minister’s recent meeting, and I would just say very gently to him at least he didn’t take him to the pub for a pint.” That was a reference to the time former Tory PM David Cameron went for a drink with President Xi at a pub near Chequers in 2015.That came as the then government claimed the UK and China were on the verge of a “golden era” of relations.Starmer today said the government was “concerned about the challenge that China poses”.
China Chris Philp Dan Jarvis President Xi Jinping
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