Bring back the dog licence

China is so obviously a ‘potential risk to UK safety or interests’ that if there is an ‘enhanced’ tier under our Foreign Influence Registration Scheme, China should be on it. We keep re-learning, but then forgetting, that China is always using covert means to extend its power over western countries, thereby undermining trust. Our government still cannot find the right words to express the problem because it is itself conflicted. This week, following the announcement of a possible infiltration of parliament, ministers tied themselves in knots over the difference between a ‘threat’ and a ‘challenge’. The truth is that China is both, and this should be officially said. Why, for example, does the government not tell us how Beijing’s United Front Work Department operates? Next month, I shall be host in the House of Lords to the formal launch of the charity UK-China Transparency (UKCT). This body has been formed by three alumni of Jesus College, Cambridge, disturbed by how their college untransparently built up its links with China and the Chinese Communist party. In its short existence, UKCT has established a project called Cambridge China Files and already investigated the dubious role of Confucius Institutes at UK universities. Last week it revealed the extent of Cambridge University’s collaboration with the Chinese military. Following the old Chinese dictum revived by the late Deng Xiaoping, but disliked by Xi Jinping, UKCT ‘seeks truth from facts’.

Something strange, by the way, about the infiltration story. It seems to have been leaked at a high level within parliament, rather than by government. Why? On the second day, the Times published the name of the person accused. Again, to what end? Getting too much out too early could prevent a successful trial.

I have written elsewhere about how the National Trust arranges its own processes to make sure the existing bureaucracy stays on top, notably by its AGM ‘Quick Vote’, offered only to members who take the National Trust’s management line.