Starmer on horns of dilemma over China’s seven-year mega-embassy saga

<p>Decision time is coming after Labour called in the planning application for the new building in east London</p><p>In 2018, a prime piece of real estate near the Tower of London that was once home to a Cistercian abbey and later became the historic manufacturing site for British coins was sold to the Chinese government.</p><p>The £255m deal, brokered by Eddie Lister, one of Boris Johnson’s closest aides, provided China with a site to build a new diplomatic complex stretching across 20,000 square metres. China’s then ambassador, Liu Xiaoming, expressed hopes that the deal would “write a new chapter for a China-UK golden era”.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/oct/04/china-mega-embassy-dilemma-starmer">Continue reading...</a>