Sir Keir Starmer’s approval of a new Chinese “mega-embassy” in London has been torn apart by a Conservative Peer, as he accused the Prime Minister of “not putting British interests first”.
Speaking to GB News, Lord Kempsell hit out at the approval of the highly controversial plans and said the Labour Government has “served up the best week ever for Xi Jinping”.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has greenlit the plans for the building at Royal Mint Court.
Despite widespread criticism from MPs and campaigners over its security implications, Communities Secretary Steve Reed has granted both planning permission and listed building consent for the site near the Tower of London.
Reacting to the approval, Lord Kempsell told GB News: “It’s flabbergasting, Keir Starmer came in saying his priority was to serve the people in Britain, but all he’s doing at the moment, it seems from a variety of decisions, whether it’s on the Chinese mega embassy or it’s on Chagos, is he’s serving up the best week ever for Xi Jinping and for Vladimir Putin.
“The local residents are very upset with this decision, notwithstanding the political reaction.”
Highlighting the concerns around major data cables being located within metres of the embassy, he added: “All across this area, which is just outside the City of London, there are vital data cables for financial information that enable trading in the city.
“And there are also sensitive communication cables that are very important to business and so on, but there’s going to be a judicial review.”
Lord Kempsell hit out at Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to approve China’s new ‘super-embassy’ in London
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GB NEWS
Predicting that there may be “quite a long run” before the plans truly get underway, Lord Kempsell explained: “Even though the plans as they are have been approved, remember that quite a good deal of those plans were redacted. So the public hasn’t really seen the full details of the planning documents.
“There’s going to be a judicial review, so I think this will have quite a long way to run yet.”
Noting Sir Keir’s desire for closer economic ties with China, he said: “I think behind the whole impetus from the Government is that Starmer knows he’s desperate to get GDP growth up in the UK. And one of his strategies, he thinks, is to just have a very open economic relationship with China.
“I think that’s how he’s coming at this. He thinks that this is a shortcut to boosting growth.”
The site of the proposed new Chinese embassy on the site of the former Royal Mint in Tower Hamlets | PA
Arguing that the UK does need to maintain a good relationship with China, Lord Kempsell told GB News: “The reality is, though, at what cost? And I firmly think that the UK does need to have a relationship with China, notwithstanding anything else, one in five people in the world are Chinese.
“The Chinese Government is a major player in world affairs, in multilateral organisations. But having a relationship with China is not the same thing as letting China exert its influence and do whatever it wants in the UK.
“That’s not the way the UK should be acting. As a patriotic Government, the UK should be putting the UK’s national interests first.”
Revealing that the US administration is “concerned” for the approval of the mega embassy, he added: “I was speaking to a number of US sources yesterday who were very close to the administration having a couple of calls last night, and I can tell you that perhaps even more so than Chagos, the US concern over the Chinese mega embassy is right at the top of the agenda in that relationship.
Lord Kempsell told GB News that the Labour Government is not ‘putting British interests first’
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GB NEWS
“And I think Starmer is really risking overall the solidity of the US-UK alliance, which, after all, is the major plank of our international security relationships. And you can take exception to the individual actions of a president, you don’t have to agree with everything a single administration does.
“And actually, there are things that the UK Government has done and will continue to do that the White House doesn’t always agree with. But the reality is away from the personalities, the core of that relationship is absolutely fundamental to the security of Western democracies.”
Asked about Donald Trump’s stance on the UK’s Chagos deal, Lord Kempsell argued that it means the deal “simply cannot go ahead”.
He concluded: “President Trump says that the deal is now stupid, and in my view that means that the deal simply can’t go ahead. I think it is an effective veto. Even though the UK and Mauritius have signed a bilateral treaty and that is the deal that Starmer refers to, the reality is the US was not a party in that bilateral treaty.
“The treaty also hasn’t been ratified, it’s still in Parliament. It’s coming back to the House of Commons today and to the House of Lords on Monday, so the process isn’t completed.”