It appears that, not content with destroying the LibDems’ commitment to democracy during his leadership, Vince Cable is back from the dead to now spin for the CCP. On Farage’s GB News show last night, Cable said of the Uighur human rights crisis, “Calling it genocide is hyping the language”.
'Calling it genocide is hyping the language"
— GB News (@GBNEWS) July 26, 2021
Nigel and Vince Cable discuss China's treatment of the Uiyghurs. pic.twitter.com/5Np6SB5w3d
Guido notes Ed Davey, to be fair, has been strong on the genocide, and Cable’s last controversial intervention was slammed by Layla Moran.
There still appear to be some contradictions with the LibDems and China, however, not least over Huawei. Last year, Guido revealed Ed Davey had pocketed £5,000 from the tech company’s chief advisor, only for the party to call for a boycott of the firm over the abuse of the Uighur people months later.
It’s not just Vince Cable either: the party seems to have a problem with ex-leading lights cosying up to the authoritarian country. As pointed out by former member Maajid Nawaz, Nick Clegg’s ex-head of strategy Ryan Coetzee joined the Consortium PR firm in July 2020 to launder China’s image while China was brutally annexing Hong Kong. Since leaving office, Danny Alexander has helped the UK become the first Western nation to join China’s Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). After he left government he became AIIB’s “No. 2 man”, as they fronted China’s $4-8 trillion Belt & Road Initiative. Is it a starry-eyed Coalition hangover from the days of Cameron-led CCP-wooing, or do some LibDems genuinely not have concerns about China?
