China has lifted sanctions imposed on six serving British MPs and peers after Keir Starmer’s trip to Beijing.
Nine UK citizens were banned from China in 2021, including five Conservative MPs and two members of the House of Lords.
Tom Tugendhat
Tugendhat was first elected in 2015. The son of a high court judge, Tugendhat served in Iraq and Afghanistan, and later became a military assistant to the chief of the defence staff.
He chaired the foreign affairs select committee between 2017 and 2022. After the sanctions were announced, he said it was a “direct assault on British democracy and an attempt to silence the British people”.
MP for Tonbridge; former security minister
Iain Duncan Smith
Duncan Smith, who was the leader of the Conservative party from 2001 to 2003, was put under sanctions for his involvement as co-chair of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, an international alliance of parliamentarians that examine China’s role in global trade, security and human rights issues.
He has been one of the most hawkish voices in parliament on China for years, criticising both Conservative and Labour governments for their approach towards Beijing on security and human rights issues.
MP for Chingford and Woodford Green; former work and pensions secretary
Nus Ghani
Born in Pakistani-administered Kashmir, Ghani attended school in Birmingham and became the first female MP for her constituency (then Wealden) in 2015.
In 2020, Ghani launched an inquiry into the use of Uyghur forced labour within UK business supply chains. A month after China imposed sanctions on her, Ghani tabled a motion in the Commons for parliament to recognise that China was perpetuating genocide against the Uyghurs, which was passed unanimously.
MP for Sussex Weald; deputy Commons speaker
Neil O’Brien
O’Brien, elected in 2017, is the shadow minister for policy renewal and development. Born in Huddersfield, O’Brien previously served as a special adviser to the chancellor George Osborne, and to Theresa May, during her first year as prime minister.
In 2020, O’Brien co-founded the China Research Group with Tugendhat, to “promote debate and fresh thinking about how Britain should respond to the rise of China”.
MP for Harborough, Oadby and Wigston
Tim Loughton
Loughton held his West Sussex seat from 1997 until he stood down at the 2024 election. A former banker in the City of London, he held the role of children’s minister after the 2010 election.
He was placed under sanctions for being a member of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, along with Helena Kennedy, Ghani, David Alton and Duncan Smith.
As the statement from Starmer only alluded to sitting parliamentarians, it is unclear whether Loughton will still be under sanctions.
Former MP for East Worthing and Shoreham
Helena Kennedy
Lady Kennedy is a Scottish barrister and Labour peer. She was appointed queen’s counsel in 1991, and was a chair of the pressure group Charter 88, which called for constitutional and electoral reform. She was made a life peer in 1997.
Alongside Duncan Smith and the activist Luke de Pulford, she created the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China in 2020 and now sits as a co-chair of the organisation.
Labour peer
David Alton
Elected in 1979 as MP for Liverpool Edge Hill, Lord Alton was made a life peer in 1997. In 2021, he introduced the genocide amendment to the Trade Act in the Lords, which would have required the UK not to trade with countries that are committing genocide. It was rejected in the Commons.
He described the decision by China to impose sanctions on him as a “crude attempt to silence criticism”.
Crossbench peer; former Liberal MP
