James Cleverly faces growing Tory backlash over plans to visit China with warnings some ministers could RESIGN if Beijing trip goes ahead
- Cleverly has been regarded as being softer on China than his predecessors
- Now, if he is to visit Beijing, Rishi Sunak may face ministerial resignations
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly is facing growing anger from Conservative China-sceptics over plans to visit Beijing.
Rishi Sunak could face ministerial resignations if the visit goes ahead, The Mail on Sunday understands.
Mr Cleverly has angered Tories by arguing that Britain should adopt a less critical stance towards the country, on the grounds that isolating China would be against the UK’s national interest.
As part of the strategy, the Foreign Office is drawing up plans for Mr Cleverly, below, to visit Beijing – despite concerns over the regime’s human rights record.
Last night, former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith warned that a visit would provoke a backlash in the parliamentary party.
Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs James Cleverly speaks to present the organisation’s updated global economic outlook, in Paris, on June 7
Xi Jinping prepares to deliver a speech during the closing session of the National People’s Congress (NPC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on March 13, 2023
Mr Duncan Smith said: ‘Cleverly is a total wet rag, who wants to fly out to China to kiss the backside of a regime responsible for shocking abuses of human rights, which poses a serious threat to our national interests.’
The Prime Minister is regarded by China-sceptic MPs as being softer on his counterpart Xi Jinping than his predecessors.
Earlier this year, former PM Liz Truss used a visit to Taiwan to make a plea for Mr Sunak to brand China as a ‘threat’ to UK security.
She warned that a Cold War has already begun and that the West has to choose between appeasing Beijing or taking action to prevent war.
She said: ‘They have already made a choice about their strategy.
‘The only choice we have is whether we appease and accommodate – or we take action to prevent conflict.’
Earlier this year, Mr Cleverly used a keynote speech to call for the UK to have a more constructive relationship with China.
He argues that completely decoupling and isolating China ‘would be a betrayal of our national interest and a wilful misunderstanding of the modern world’.
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