Surprise, surprise – the Chinese press is celebrating Lammy’s obsequious visit to Beijing. The Global Times says “the visit may have the purpose for the UK to review and adjust its China policy.” The state-run paper says it’s about abandoning Tory opposition to the regime:

“The Labour government needs to change the UK’s chaotic China policy over the past decade or so, therefore the visit could be an attempt to stabilize and improve the relationship with Beijing… Although the new Labour government reportedly seeks less confrontational ties with China and to resume trade and investment talks, they still need to balance the impact of the Conservative Party. To bring China-UK relations back on track, the Keir Starmer administration needs to make a clear distinction between its China policy and that of the Conservative Party… the UK should reassess its China policy from a more practical and impartial perspective.”

The praise doesn’t stop there:

• Xinhua celebrates that the UK and China will “have in-depth communication on enhancing strategic mutual trust and strengthening dialogue and cooperation in various fields.“
• China Daily points out that since Labour has come to power “China and the UK have seen good momentum in exchanges at various levels, as senior officials from the two countries, including ministers, have held talks or made phone calls covering areas such as economy, finance, diplomacy and energy.“
• People’s Daily says the governments will now “strive for mutual benefits and a win-win situation, and promote the sustained and steady growth of bilateral relations.“

Obviously none of them bother mentioning the FCDO’s briefing to concerned Western journalists that Lammy will “raise human rights concerns about China’s treatment of the Uyghurs and its support of the Russian war in Ukraine.” Cursory castigation from Lammy which will be ignored…

China sees this as a sign that Labour is taking the opposite approach to the Tories. Lammy has walked into the dragon’s mouth…

Yesterday Guido revealed the PM filmed his 2021 Christmas Covid broadcast from Lord Alli’s £18 million Covent Garden penthouse. He urged people to work from home as he sat in someone else’s home…

Downing Street sought to calm the storm by saying no rules were broken – heard that one before – and it was a ‘one-off’ use of the place. One-off eh…

The Guardian wrote:

“No 10 said Starmer was completely confident he had broken no rules when in Alli’s flat. The clip was recorded for work purposes and it is understood he was only using the flat as a one-off.”

Unfortunately for Downing Street, exactly 37 minutes after their line was published Guido went to pixel with evidence that Starmer paid tribute to the Queen on the day of her death from the very same ‘one-off’ penthouse. Gone were the family photos – replaced with some dark urns and books including an Obama biography…

This is going to become untenable for Keir Starmer. The revelations about Lord Alli’s apartment have only just started…

The armageddon of mass far right protests supposedly due to take place across Britain last night came to… absolutely nothing whatsoever. As Sky News’s long-serving crime reporter Martin Brunt put it:

“There’s no evidence yet that our teams on the ground have seen any far right activity – the counter protests have got no protests to counter.” 

As the night wore on, special coverage arranged by the main broadcasters – which sent cameras across the country, dispatching correspondents and TV helicopters far and wide – became increasingly embarrassing. An example from ITV’s Paul Brand summed up the position:

In all honesty there seems to be very little purpose to the gathering here. You hear the odd word about immigration but most people seem to have come out for a look and to see if anything kicks off. A fair bit of drinking and low level aggro but no major unrest.

— Paul Brand (@PaulBrandITV) August 7, 2024

As news hounds desperately tried to spot the slightest hint of far-right activity, there was less attention on the developments of the past few days, including:

• Keir Starmer inventing what he called a ‘standing army’ of public order cops.
• The Director of Public Prosecutions threatening terrorism charges on rioters.
• The police activating a national public order mobilisation, deploying 6000 officers (no doubt on a significant overtime bill).
• Remarkable calls to shut down X and all social media platforms completely in an outburst of anti-free speech authoritarianism.
• An under pressure Met Commissioner Mark Rowley losing it with a reporter and taking it out on a microphone.

As it turned out, the threat turned out not to be in evidence. Were rioters just taking the night off, or is this much-hyped episode of disorder now over?