Boris Johnson’s father is planning a fresh trip to China after a controversial six-week trek was scuppered by a Covid lockdown.
Stanley Johnson, 82, told the Mirror he will return in “Spring or early summer” to “finish off” retracing Marco Polo’s steps, a journey he began in 1961.
His fresh plans could prove controversial after he praised China’s ambassador while planning the trip, despite rising tension between Beijing and London.
Stanley Johnson set off for China but was in Chengdu when authorities imposed fresh lockdown measures this week - with 155 cases detected as of Saturday.
His son Boris Johnson wrote in the Sunday Express: “He has been shut in his hotel room for nine days, with food left outside his room by staff in hazmat suits.
“They take his temperature with a kind of gun, from three yards away.
“Just as he thought he was coming to the end of his Covid quarantine, he has just been told that the whole city of 20 million people is going back into lockdown.
“When he looks out at the streets of Chengdu, they seem deserted.”
Speaking to the Mirror by phone from China today, Mr Johnson Snr insisted “all is great” but added: “It’s perfectly true we have been in lockdown, in quarantine.
“We will probably be coming back to finish off the assignment in Spring or early summer.”
Asked if it had scuppered his bid to retrace Marco Polo’s steps he replied: “This is just a pause.
“We’ve done a fantastic amount of work since we’ve been here. This is just a pause, we will be regrouping and finishing this off in the Spring or early Summer.”
The ex-MEP - who was due to be accompanied by his son Max and a camera crew - added “the Chinese have been fantastically helpful” before saying he had to leave the call.
In April Stanley Johnson hosted China’s UK Ambassador Zheng Zeguang - who he has called “very agreeable, capable and intelligent” - at his home for lunch.
In June Tory MPs called for a “period of silence” from him, when he urged a ban on China’s ambassador attending the UK Parliament to end.
Mr Johnson Senior previously insisted his trip was “not a political exercise” - despite reports it would take him through Xinjiang.
The region is home to the Uyghur people, against whom China is accused of perpetrating “serious human rights violations” in a UN high commissioner report.
A joint statement from parliamentarians sanctioned by Beijing said in June: “In advancing the interests of a brutal Chinese regime that is committing genocide against the Uyghur, using slave labour, and locking up peaceful democracy campaigners in Hong Kong, he only reveals how out of touch he has become.
“As any decent person might remark, a period of silence from him would be very welcome.”
Megacity Chengdu put its 21million people under lockdown on Thursday, and announced the suspension of in-person teaching for primary and secondary schools from Monday.
It was not clear from the call with Mr Johnson when or how he was set to return from China.
