Kemi Badenoch joins protesters calling for Government to stop China mega-embassy

Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch called for the Government to stop China’s proposed central London “mega-embassy” when she spoke at a protest on Saturday.

The Government is facing mounting calls to reject Beijing’s plans for the embassy at Royal Mint Court over security concerns.

Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the site on Saturday afternoon, some with flags and banners, chanting “no mega-embassy”.

Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith, Liberal Democrat MP Bobby Dean and Reform UK MP Danny Kruger also spoke.

The protest comes as Sir Keir Starmer is reportedly poised to announce the proposal has finally been approved after the decision was repeatedly pushed back.

Mrs Badenoch said: “I am standing here with you today because I believe in freedom.

“I’m standing with you today, because I know what it is like to live without freedom.

“We take it for granted in the United Kingdom because we have had it for so long, but those who have lived under oppressive regimes, those who have lived under authoritarianism, those who have lived under communism, know what that suffering is like, and we do not want to see that here.

“So I speak right now as the leader of the Opposition, the leader of the Conservative Party: I stand with you, I tell you that I will always fight for freedom, and I am calling on the Government to stop this decision.

“We do not want a country that spies on our MPs having this super-embassy right here, and I will do everything within my power to continue speaking on your behalf.”

She said China is a country that has “harassed and sanctioned our MPs”, “harassed and abused British nationals connected to China”, it “helps our enemies, like Russia”, and “disrupts the global trade system”.

Mrs Badenoch also said the Government “seems to be scared of China”.

She said: “We know that we have to stand up to the abuses of China. And what worries me is that we have a Government right now that seems to be scared of China.

“We have a Government that is afraid, too weak, no backbone. What we need right now is a government that will act in the British national interest and protect those people who are fighting for those Chinese citizens who are suffering.”

The plans for the site, near the Tower of London, include 208 secret rooms and a hidden chamber, according to reporting by The Telegraph.

Critics fear the secret rooms, located in the site’s basement, could be used for the detention of dissidents who have fled the Chinese state for Britain.

The hidden chamber would be located in close proximity to data cables said to be crucial for financial sector communications between the City of London and Canary Wharf.

Ciaran Martin, former chief executive of the National Cyber Security Centre, challenged the worries about secret rooms, describing them as “classified facilities”.

“It’s where classified work – the lifeblood of foreign and security policy – gets done,” he wrote in The Times.

He also suggested that Britain’s spies are likely to have already thoroughly scrutinised the plans and that if Sir Keir Starmer approves the plans it will be with the intelligence services’ sign-off.

But Kemi Badenoch said this would not be enough to reassure her.

She told the Press Association: “No, it is not enough for me to have confidence in it. There are still so many unresolved issues.”

She pointed to the collapse of a case against two alleged Chinese spies last year, which an investigation found came down to “systemic failures” rather than a conspiracy to sabotage the prosecution.

She said she suspected the decision to approve the embassy came amid pressure from China.

“I don’t think that Labour is being honest about the decisions that they’re making, and given that we know Keir Starmer is due to go to China soon, this looks like a decision that’s been made under pressure from China.”

Labour MPs have also voiced concerns about the embassy, with nine sending a letter to Communities Secretary Steve Reed this week urging him to reject the application.

They raised security concerns and warned the embassy could be used to “step up intimidation” against dissidents.

Ministers have promised to make a decision on whether to grant the Chinese embassy planning permission by January 20.

Before then, they have insisted it would be inappropriate for them to comment on it.

Liberal Democrat MP Bobby Dean said Sir Keir Starmer is going with a “begging bowl to Beijing” and demanded the prime minister “be brave” and reject the Chinese embassy application.

He said: “Now we know that sometime in the next couple of weeks, the Prime Minister is going to hop on a plane with a begging bowl to Beijing.

“He’s going to try and secure a trade deal with China, and having failed to secure the release of Jimmy Lai, having failed to tackle transnational repression on our soil, and having gifted one of the biggest diplomatic gifts he could give to a hostile state, this giant mega embassy, he try to strike a deal on that basis.”

He said he thinks China will “look at Britain as weak, and they will strike a deal on that basis”, and called for Sir Keir to cancel his visit to Beijing, and “demand that he will not get on a plane until Jimmy Lai comes back in the other direction”.

Iain Duncan Smith told protesters: “Those of us that are here today will stand against tyranny. We have a major problem, we have China, North Korea, Russia and Iran in a new axis that threatens the very freedoms that we in the United Kingdom believe, and many of you who have fled here.

“We say to President Xi, who said only a few months ago that his purpose with those allies was to have a new world order, that new world order will be of tyranny, of repression, of an end of freedom, an end to the right to protest, no judicial rights in face of the law and total control by the centre. What do we say to that proposal? No.”

Danny Kruger said if China “gets its way with projects like this and with the technology that it is developing, China could become the worst regime in the history of the world”.

He said the British Government “must not let itself be bought by the Chinese Communist Party”.

Mark Nygate, from the Royal Mint Court Residents Association, said the residents are “very worried about their safety, their security, their privacy”.

The 65-year-old said they intend to fight and are raising money for a judicial review.

Chloe Cheung, 20, said in 2024 the Hong Kong authorities placed a 1 million Hong Kong dollar (more than £95,760) bounty on her head because of the work she did with the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation.

She said if the embassy is approved, it could be easier for them to “facilitate any surveillance” and she would be concerned about her safety.

Ms Cheung added: “And I think the second thing which makes me even more concerned is that I think it is the problem of the symbolism – if the British Government is giving them the biggest embassy in Europe, it’s kind of saying that, China is now their most important partner on Earth.

“And I think they shouldn’t be saying this to any authoritarian regime. And I’m, of course, most concerned that the British Government are now prioritising their relationship with China, their trading relationship with China, rather than safety of residents in the UK.”