Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has arrived in Beijing, the first British leader to make an official trip to China since 2018, after he said he believes he can unlock business opportunities there despite security concerns.
A chartered British Airways jet carried the Prime Minister to Beijing overnight — allegedly to keep Chinese spies away from the Prime Minister’s own government plane — for the first of a three-day trip to China, which the Labour leader hopes will thaw relations after what he called an “ice age”.
The hurried trip was only officially announced by China on Tuesday and seems to be something of a reward for Starmer after the British government forced through permission for Beijing to build a new “mega-embassy” in London just last week. The new complex, which will be the largest embassy in Western Europe once completed, has been the subject of intense criticism over spying and national security fears, but was signed off on nevertheless by one of Starmer’s government ministers.
BEIJING, CHINA – JANUARY 28: UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer arrives on January 28, 2026 in Beijing, China (Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images)
While the UK’s domestic intelligence agency MI5 said it believes any risks from the new mega-embassy could be mitigated to an acceptable level, the top spooks have nevertheless repeatedly warned of the threat Chinese intelligence poses to Britain. And there appears to be some mitigation underway on this trip, with The Times reporting that Prime Minister Starmer and “his entire team” have been issued with single-use “burner” mobile phones and laptops for their China trip in case they are secretly compromised while in the communist country.
Indeed, it is stated that “no government equipment at all will be taken to the country over concerns about Chinese Communist Party snooping”. Former Security Minister and Foreign Affairs Committee chair Tom Tugendhat claimed this even extended to the choice of aircraft. While national flag carrier British Airways is part of the delegation of 60 UK businesses accompanying the Prime Minister to Beijing, and the journey may be beyond the single-leg range of the government’s medium-haul private plane, Tugendhat stated swapping the state Airbus for a chartered civilian flight was to confound Chinese spies.
He wrote: “…they’re taking a burner plane! The government jet is staying home because it would need to be guarded round the clock to stop China putting bugs on it.”
Sir Keir will be the first British Prime Minister to visit China in eight years, since Theresa May’s 2018 visit, Beijing being understood to have withheld high-level diplomatic contacts until London agreed to permit that mega-embassy. It has also refused to allow the United Kingdom to replace its own “crumbling” embassy in Beijing to help force the London embassy through.
Starmer, for his part, has insisted the trip could be good for business and could help make Britain richer. In comments made in the lead-up to the trip, he rejected the idea that cosying up to China could jeopardise relations with the United States, despite President Trump having already threatened Canada with heavy extra tariffs for undermining the Western alliance.
The Prime Minister told Bloomberg this week that he doesn’t believe Britain has to choose between China and the U.S., remarking: “We’ve got very close relations with the US — of course, we want to — and we will maintain that business, alongside security and defense… just sticking your head in the sand and ignoring China, when it’s the second-biggest economy in the world and there are business opportunities, wouldn’t be sensible.”
Embattled Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch took press questions on Wednesday morning and accused Starmer of weakness for trading the London mega-embassy for a capital visit. She said: “He needs to show strength, not approving a super-embassy, which many people think is going to become a spy hub. He looks like he gives way every time things get difficult.”
Per the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Starmer is due to visit Beijing and Shanghai, and have meetings with President Xi Jinping, Prime Minister Li Qiang, and top Chinese Communist Party official Zhao Leji.
As reported by Breitbart News, the United Kingdom has been in the sights of a massive and years-long Chinese spying operation. It is now stated that Chinese spies hacked and surveilled the cell phones of top UK government officials inside Downing Street in an operation that also monitored other Five Eyes allies Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States.
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