Plots and intrigue kicked into gear almost as soon as the King left Parliament yesterday when the APPG for the Chagos Islands was taken over in a coup by Tory MPs. The APPG was previously controlled by supporters of the FCDO’s apparent plan to give the islands away to Mauritius. The government started negotiations with Mauritius in November last year…

30 Tory MPs flooded into the AGM last night under direction of secret plans and voted Labour chairman Mike Kane out. The new chairman is Tory MP Henry Smith, whose Crawley constituency contains the highest number of Chagossians in the UK, some of whom have launched a legal challenge to stop the negotiations and keep the islands British. 2,000 of them were kicked out in 1968 to build an American military base…

The successful coup’s organisers say giving the islands away will cut crucial access to the Indian and Pacific Oceans and give China undue influence in the region. They’re warning the rest of British overseas territories could go the same way if British interests and self-determination aren’t considered. Daniel Kawczynski MP tells Guido: “We will not allow them to trash self-determination, overwise it puts at risk places like Gibraltar and others as well“. New chairman Henry Smith says now “Parliament is watching” and the Foreign Office should make proper reference to MPs. The battle over the fate of the islands is heating up…

Guido reported last month that the APPG for Metaverse and Web 3.0, which is run by Baroness Uddin and Khalid Mahmood MP, was backed by the UKIIC, a Chinese front whose stated aim is “upgrading Chinese soft power and global influence“. The APPG has now held an AGM and replaced the dodgy secretariat. The only problem? The replacement is run by the same people. They’re taking the piss with this one…

Guido can reveal that the new secretariat is the “Surrey Academy for Blockchain and Metaverse Applications“, headed up by Professor Yu Xiong, who happens to also be the president of the disgraced Chinese front. UKIIC personnel also feature as members of the new secretariat. The “Academy” was founded with a £1 million donation from Chinese crypto company JKL Capital. It’s no surprise that Surrey University is hosting these characters – Guido seems to remember it signing an extensive exchange agreement with the Chinese, taking a £7.5 million donation from Huawei to fund a “5G/6G Innovation Centre“, and trying to shut down criticism of China’s lockdowns as “microaggressions“. The secretariat speaks at APPG meetings and organises events in Parliament. They’ve got to try harder than that, a sham replacement won’t fool Guido…

With talk of espionage running through Westminster, eyebrows may be raised by the fact that the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Metaverse and Web 3.0, run by Baroness Uddin and Simon Fell, is administered by a Chinese front organisation called the UK International Innovation Center (UKIIC).

The UKIIC acts as the secretariat for the APPG, speaking at its meetings and organising events in Parliament. It states its aims as “providing constructive advice to its China headquarters under the mission of contributing to the country” and “upgrading China’s Soft power and international influence.” It claims to be in an “innovation alliance” with Huawei and works with the University of Reading’s Henley Business School and Huawei Institute of Information and Network Technology. For Huawei, as one door closes another opens…

The organisation recently received a delegation from Hangzhou in China “to explore cooperation in technology innovation between China and the UK” which included CCP officer He Xianzhong, as part of which they signed a “framework agreement” to establish a strategic cooperation relationship and agreed on a follow-up plan for in-depth cooperation. For “soft power influence” read “lobbying” …

UPDATE: The UKIIC has now taken down all of its websites. Time for a rebrand…

The EGM vote for the Qatar APPG chairmanship – sparked following the death of Sir David Amess – turned into a Scotland vs Wales nail-biter, with former secretary of state Alun Cairns beating former secretary of state David Mundell by just one vote at 46-45. The tally took quite a long time to count up as many of the 91 MPs attempting to vote didn’t know how to update to the latest version of Zoom. Apparently leading to dozens of confused Members sending in their votes via frenzied WhatsApps and emails…

What’s surprising is just how many MPs actually showed up to the vote. Usually an APPG AGM would struggle to attract one to two dozen MPs – 91 turning up for the Qatar group’s is extraordinary. As one MP wryly observed, it’s almost as if there’s a World Cup in Qatar coming up this winter…

Last Friday, Guido was alerted to the impending inaugural meeting of a new parliamentary APPG for “Afrikan Reparations”, to be lead by Bell Ribeiro-Addy and take place via Zoom this morning. The co-conspirator raised their eyebrows at the APPG, knowing that rules state a group must have cross-party support. Which Tory would be brave enough to back this hard-left, woke project?

Guido diligently tuned into the Zoom call and can reveal the Tory enabling the group to be none other than Father of the House Sir Peter Bottomley. Ribeiro-Addy thanked Sir Peter for volunteering and allowing the group to get off the ground. After seconding Ribeiro-Addy’s chairmanship, Sir Peter said he was happy to be put down as an “assistant secretary”, joining vice chairs Caroline Lucas and Marsha de Cordova.

The creation of the APPG followed a lobbying campaign by the group Stop The Maangamizi, who want to “address the legacies of Afrikan Enslavement” and:

“make recommendations to Parliament on how to redress the legacies of African enslavement, colonialism and neocolonialism today.”

The group also wants:

• Debt cancellation and repudiation
• Restitution of African cultural property and human remains
• To declare the UN’s ‘International Day for Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition’ a public holiday in the UK

During the APPG’s meeting, Ribeiro-Addy thanked Stop The Maangamizi for “providing a view on what could be done in terms of looking at the various issues over time and presenting some discussions and policy moving forward.”. The Labour MPs attending the call – also among them Zarah Sultana, Dawn Butler and Florence Eshalomi – were hardly surprising. Sir Peter’s involvement, however, has already raised some Tories’ eyebrows…

The APPG for Smoking & Health today called on the government to increase the age at which you can buy cigarettes from 18 to 21. The group of nannies believes this will end the “tobacco epidemic” by the end of the decade. Just one hiccup – 60% of MPs on the APPG believe the voting age should be lowered to 16…

Guido has compiled the list of the 9 MPs who believe that 16 year-olds are mature enough to decide the fate of this country, yet won’t be ready for another 5 years until they are 21 years-old to decide for themselves whether or not to smoke:

• Labour’s Alex Cunningham backs votes at 16
• Green MP Caroline Lucas supports votes at 16
• Lib Dem MP Christine Jardine argued that 16-year-olds should decide Scotland’s fate in the 2014 referendum.
• Labour’s Ian Mearns argued that 16-year-olds should vote on Britain’s EU membership.
• Labour MP Nick Smith thinks 16-year-olds should have a say in our leaders.
• SNP MP Owen Thompson believes 16-year-olds should decide this country’s leaders
• Shadow SNP Spokesperson Philippa Whitford wants to reduce the voting age.
• Racheal Maskell fought to lower the voting age in a passionate speech.
• Finally Labour’s Virendra Sharma voted to allow 16-year-olds a say in the EU referendum.

As Guido previously reported, lifestyle restrictions on eating, drinking, and smoking have steadily increased across Europe in the past 4 years. Maybe just let adults decide for themselves…