Labour Conference, London Metals Week, Tory thinking on China
A Beijing to Britain briefing
Hello,
As the Labour Conference comes to an end, the feeling in Westminster seems to be that the keys to Downing Street are theirs to lose at the next General Election. Accordingly, analysts, consultants, observers and corporations are asking themselves what a Labour Government would look like on a range of fronts. In fact, “what will Labour do on China?” is the question we are asked most often by businesses (get in touch if you want us to come and speak with your company).
Receiving far less attention is the question of what the Conservative Party will do, if - as polls predict - it is wiped out at the polling stations next year. The party has always prided itself on its pragmatism and being a broad church of right-wing thinkers. It also houses a number of Parliament’s most adamant China hawks. But some commentators have the view that the party’s broad church of right-wing MPs now has little in common, and an electoral defeat on a large scale may well fracture the party permanently, condemning them to the backbenches for a decade.
To this end, it is worth keeping an eye on what one of the party’s canniest operators is up to. Michael Gove, the current Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, has appeared in the foreword of a 100-page paper published by a right-leaning think tank Onward on “The Case for Conservatism.” Penned by Onward’s Gavin Rice, and former Theresa May adviser (and now MP hopeful) Nick Timothy, it is the result of a months-long inquiry into the future of centre-right conservatism, with guidance from a number of Conservative MPs and leading thinkers, and argues for the party to move towards the centre, among other recommendations. As I unpack further down the briefing, China features in this report on a number of occasions. It serves as an illustrative temperature check on where some of the party’s more centrist thinkers sit on this issue, and how they might influence the rebuilding of the Conservative Party if it loses next year.
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— Sam Hogg, Editor
In this week’s Briefing Note, we look at:
Analysing the Labour Party Conference
The UK’s diplomatic push
Where the Tories might go next on China
London Metals Week
Annual results from a China-facing trust
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