Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Get our free View from Westminster email Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy noticeSir Keir Starmerand his team will arrive in Beijing with “burner” phones and laptops in an effort to stop being spied on during their trip to China this week. According to The Times, the prime minister and his team will be seeking to mitigate such risks by leaving all government equipment in the UK. In what appeared to be a defence of his decision to take the trip, the prime minister said the UK was “missing out” by not engaging with China. The prime minister has also faced calls to raise the treatment of the Uighur minority and the imprisonment of Jimmy Lai, a Hong Kong pro-democracy campaigner and British national.

Source: The Times January 28, 2026 14:26 UTC