Letters to the Editor – week ending 19th October 2025

Read what people have been writing to our editor about this week. Find out how to share your own views here.

Chinese spies row

The row over Chinese spying and MPs employing “researchers” who also passed on  information freely available to any accredited diplomat in London is reaching proportions of an Evelyn Waugh or perhaps today a Mick Herron novel.

When I was named an FCO minister in 2001 I felt a thrill as on my first day in my handsome office overlooking St James Park my Private Secretary explained that after an induction at Vauxhall Cross, the wedding cake building that is home to MI6, I would start receiving every morning on my desk the daily summaries of what our spies in the UK embassies in countries I was ministerially responsible for – including China, East Asia, the Balkans and Latin America were sending back to London.

It was flimsy green paper folder with the relevant telegrams inside. The folder was marked CX and I often wondered why the call sign for Hong Kong’s Cathy Pacific airline was chosen.

But there was nothing in the file that helped me as I travelled to the countries I was nominally responsible for. I remember a story Robin Cook loved to tell when I worked with him as an FCO Parliamentary Private Secretary of being in Islamabad and staying at the UK High Commission when an evening call came through to his bedroom from the Today programme. They asking him to appear the next morning to comment in a coup that had overthrown the Pakistani government.

Cook called the High Commissioner in his bedroom to ask for his evaluation of the coup. “Absolutely nothing has happened, Secretary of State. I would be the first to know. You have a good night’s sleep and we can discuss your programme over breakfast.”

Cook called to the High Commission switchboard and asked to be connected to the Today team at the BBC in London. He asked the local staffer manning the switchboard if anything was happening in Islamabad. “Oh, Mr Cook, we are so happy. That crooked bastard who was our president has gone. We are dancing in the streets.’

Diplomats and MI6 staff move in their groves and often are the last to know what is happening in a country. I read with interest the CX reports on arms smuggling in the Balkans or preparing for a visit to Central America the location of a president’s mistress or his drink problem but quickly told my private secretary to read the file as I got much better intelligence from the Economist, Le Monde, El Pais or Der Spiegel.

London and every big capital city is awash with political consultancies that sell political intelligence to business and to embassies. The Russian embassy in  the Soviet era sent a jovial official to the TUC Conference every September to buy drinks, offer all-expenses paid trips to anyone who wanted to visit the Soviet Union, and chat about Labour government gossips to the Labour MPs and ministers who attended.

The Arab governments have a notorious Parliamentary support group with lots of free trips for any MP – the so-called Camel Corps – who wanted freebies to “deepen understanding” of why Israel should be eliminated from the Middle East at agreeable conferences in warms holiday resorts in deep midwinter.

One Labour MP who went on to higher things was well-known as he sat in the tea room handing out free trinckets to Southern Spain for any colleague who wanted a break with a nice hotel stay on the Mediterranean thrown in.

The workings of British politics and parliamentarians is a closed book to the non-adept. Parliamentary researchers are paid peanuts. Compiling lists of MPs who serve on different committees or who go on agreeable fact-finding  trips to countries in the news can seem like important secrets to embassies and foreign firms based in London. As can gossip about who’s up and who’s down in the government of the day.

The Conservative Party’s efforts to smear Jonathan Powell who served Britain well by doing so much of the heavy lifting for the Northern Ireland peace agreement and has since worked tirelessly on promoting peace deals in Latin America and Asia with financial support mainly from Nordic NGOs is unworthy of serious opposition politics.

One can feel sympathy for MPs Alicia Kearns and Tom Tugendhat who spoke out as their Conservative colleagues in ministerial office crawled to Beijing and who now feel betrayed by young men they hired. But they are not the first MPs and won’t be the last who make unwise choices in their staff.

Britain, our allies in Europe, North America and the Pacific do not know how to answer the China question. The idea it will be solved by putting low-grade MPs’ staffers on trial and attacking the prime minister by smearing his highly qualified foreign affairs adviser  will only make Beijing smile at the sight of British MPs and editors once again barking up the wrong tree.

Denis MacShane, former minister for Europe (2002-2005) and former MP for Rotherham (1994-2012)

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‘The current approach is not working’

The recently published letter by Colin Bryant is excellent and sets out basic points about the Government’s approach to the economy.

We are seeing reports from JP Morgan indicating that the Chancellor can increase taxes to raise £45bn without breaking promises.

This is from a company that helps people avoid paying tax.

The fundamental point is that state investment leads to improved services and generates extra  tax receipts to pay for those services.

The current approach is not working.

Jim Cannon

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‘We should be grateful to those who come here and stop the demonisation’

Dear Editor,

I’m absolutely torn on the issue of reform to the ECHR.

For myself, I see little wrong with how it has worked in the past. What I liked about it is that it took account of immigrants as human beings with feelings and family connections, not just as mere numbers.

However, I also see how those opposed to the allegedly high numbers of immigrants make use of the numbers to stir up opposition to immigration and dislike or hatred of the people who have come here for a safer and better life. I can see that reform to the ECHR might possibly weaken the case of parties like Reform UK who are implacably opposed to immigration.

In setting down my thoughts, however, I now come down against attempts to reform the ECHR. I would ask our government to make a greater effort to inform the public about the truths on immigration, on how we benefit and about the many untruths propagated by the right-wing media and followers of Farage and co.

I spent three weeks in hospital this summer. I observed that we rely on people who chose to come to live and work here from outside the UK. We should be grateful to them and stop the demonisation.

Mary Gladman, Swindon

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‘Only fools and knaves would want to tamper with the ECHR’

I’ve been a party member for 50 years and refused to allow the ghastly Blair to drive me out. But here, since the last general election, is yet one more reason to consider leaving. It’s bad enough having a Labour government prepared to trim for the votes of fascists, but that a substantial number of members should think it’s a good idea too is horrifying.

To state what should be obvious, the ECHR protects each and every individual’s human rights irrespective of age, ethnicity, religion, status etc, including those who think because they’re white UK citizens, they’ll be safe from having their rights infringed. Only fools and knaves would want to tamper with such an important convention.

David Selzer

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‘Unchecked illegal migration poses significant challenges’

As a legal migrant who has chosen to make Britain my home, pays taxes, and strives to integrate fully into British society, I strongly support tough reforms against illegal immigration and the government’s pursuit of ECHR reform. The realities of unchecked illegal migration not only pose significant challenges for national security and social cohesion but also have adverse effects on law-abiding legal migrants like myself. Unfortunately, many of us face stereotyping and discrimination from local communities, as we are often – albeit wrongly – categorized as illegal immigrants, despite our commitment to the UK, its values, and its laws.

It is essential to differentiate between those who contribute positively and respect the rules, and those who breach them. I believe that sensible and robust reforms to the ECHR, aimed specifically at tackling illegal immigration, are necessary to restore fairness, build trust within communities, and ensure that genuine contributors to society are not unfairly penalized or ostracized.

I hope Labour listens to the voices of members who, like me, support principled reform, and that the party champions policies which protect both the rights of individuals and the integrity of our migration system.

Pratik J, Cheshire East

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