Normally when MPs criticise the uncertainty around the government’s relationship with another country, they are referring to the constant chopping and changing around how to engage with China, not Israel. But where the UK stands on both countries is in flux at the moment, and today’s Foreign Office Questions in the Commons didn’t help much either.
Priti Patel, who is now the shadow foreign secretary, used China as her main line of attack at topical questions, claiming that the current iteration of relations ‘appears to be all give and no take’. She asked the Foreign Secretary David Lammy to explain ‘what has been achieved with regard to advancing Britain’s interests in respect of security, economic practices and human rights since his recent visits to China, and what he expects to be achieved during his future visits?’
Lammy wasted no time in mocking the Conservatives, pointing out that ‘under the last government there were about seven different China policies and very little was achieved’.
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