Kemi Badenoch told the House of Commons on Monday of her fury at the government’s alleged interventions in the collapsed trial of two men accused of spying for China.
The leader of the opposition condemned Labour’s “ineptitude” over the growing scandal. Badenoch also wrote to the Prime Minister calling for “clarity and honesty” and asking him to make a statement in parliament over the collapse of the case.
Last week, Britain’s most senior prosecutor, Stephen Parkinson, said the case collapsed because evidence describing Beijing as a national security threat could not be obtained from Starmer’s administration. The government’s national security strategy, published last June, does not refer to China as an “enemy”.
Badenoch has said ministers must say whether it was “still your government’s position to claim that it would have been impossible to argue that China was a threat in court”.
The Tory leader’s new enthusiasm for taking on China, the world’s second largest military power, has come as something of a surprise to the Hitch.
Badenoch did not take such a clear position on China during her first bid for the Tory leadership in 2022. While Truss took an aggressive stance on China, Rishi Sunak subsequently softened the language used by government, describing the country as a “challenge” rather than a “threat”.
Sunak was enthusiastically supported by fellow Conservatives – even as the spy scandal erupted in September 2023 when two men were arrested under the Official Secrets Act. One of the supporters was Badenoch, who was asked by Sky News in September 2023 whether China should be described as a “foe”. She preferred the word “challenge” – after all, as she put it, “China is a country we do a lot of business with”. Badenoch fretted that we “shouldn’t be using language that makes people scared”.
During a topical questions debate that month, Badenoch refused a request by Labour MP Barry Sheerman to conduct a thorough audit into Chinese influence over the economy.
“I do not think we need an audit,” said Badenoch, two years before she became Westminster’s most enthusiastic spycatcher. “China is our fourth largest export market, and we are aware of the economic challenge that it poses across the world. We work with countries across the world, but we have a pragmatic relationship with China. We need to use our influence to help them get to a better place, but I take the honourable gentleman’s point.”
By October 2023 Sunak’s government was quietly attempting to revive trade talks with the Chinese. The secretary of state for business and trade at that time? Look no further than one Kemi Badenoch.
Before her transformation into a red-baiter this week, Badenoch seemed intensely relaxed about China. A scan of Hansard reveals one mention of Hong Kong and no mention of the Uyghurs over the eight years she has been an MP. She has found the time to mention the embattled island of Taiwan – twice. In the unlikely event Badenoch returns to government, the Hitch looks forward to what language she finds herself using about China. A threat? Surely not. We wouldn’t want to hear any language that might make people scared.
[Further reading: Is Ben Houchen moving into Rishi Sunak’s house?]
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