Steady Eddie gets his Far East readies

The Tory party has had a difficult relationship with China in recent years. David Cameron and George Osborne’s ‘Golden era’ of Sino-UK diplomacy foundered on the rock of Beijing’s actions in Hong Kong and Xinjiang while Boris Johnson’s backbenchers have consistently urged a tougher line on tech companies like Huawei. 

The G7 summit in June illustrated the predicament facing ministers: maintaining pressure on President Xi over human rights violations while securing Chinese backing for global action on climate change. Tensions on Westminster’s green benches have played out behind the scenes in Whitehall too. Some urging a tougher line on China talk of being ‘brought back into line’ by No. 10 if they are perceived to go ‘too far.’

One former Downing Street aide who appears to have been on the more dove-ish side of the argument was Boris Johnson’s former City Hall colleague Eddie Lister, now ennobled as Baron Udny-Lister. Back in February the former deputy mayor of London was revealed