Friday 1 July 2022 11:30 PM What is Beijing hoping to get out of Stanley Johnson?  trends now

Friday 1 July 2022 11:30 PM What is Beijing hoping to get out of Stanley Johnson?  trends now
Friday 1 July 2022 11:30 PM What is Beijing hoping to get out of Stanley Johnson?  trends now

Friday 1 July 2022 11:30 PM What is Beijing hoping to get out of Stanley Johnson?  trends now

The summer of 1961 saw an Oxford undergraduate set off with two companions and a pair of motorcycles with sidecars to retrace the journey of Marco Polo from Venice to China. He was ‘a burly . . . bear-like . . . young man with an unruly shock of blond hair’.

He was also accident-prone and larger than life with a profound belief in his own abilities.

He it was who helped persuade sponsors to donate the new motorbikes for the 10,000-mile expedition, even though — and this he kept secret from them — the travellers had never ridden motorbikes before.

If his distinctive appearance and cavalier approach seem familiar then there is an obvious explanation. The student in question was Stanley Johnson, future father of Boris, our beleaguered Prime Minister.

Might the Chinese be using Stanley Johnson to get closer to the seat of power and Boris?

 Might the Chinese be using Stanley Johnson to get closer to the seat of power and Boris?

‘Stan was at his best in organising other people into doing something that he wanted,’ wrote Tim Severin, one of Johnson senior’s companions, in Tracking Marco Polo, his book which described their odyssey.

The trio travelled through Western and Central Europe, the Balkans, Turkey, Persia and Afghanistan, suffering accidents, broken bones, arrest and other mishaps along the way.

But they never reached Red China. Because they were not allowed in.

‘Stan and I tried every approach that we could think to persuade the Chinese authorities to produce visas for us,’ Severin recalled.

‘We sent circulars to the various departments in Peking; we made plans to take a Chinese student with us; and we stressed that as students we were strictly non-political . . . but all to no avail.’

The attempt would have disappeared into the mists of time and the British Library archives.

But 61 years later Stanley Johnson is, again, retracing the Marco Polo expedition route. Only this time it will be along the Chinese leg of Polo’s fabled Silk Road. And the Communist Chinese authorities will welcome him in with open arms.

Here lies the mystery. This scion of the British establishment will be travelling with a TV documentary film crew in a country whose relationship with the UK has soured considerably due to Beijing’s domestic human rights record — particularly regarding the Uighur minority and Hong Kong democrats — military threats to neighbours, espionage and its support of Putin’s Russia.

How has this come to pass? In his 1964 book, Severin admitted that friends and acquaintances had viewed their trip as ‘foolhardy’.

But that was because the travellers were so youthful, so ill-prepared and the journey so arduous.

At the age of 81, Johnson’s latest jaunt is attracting similar criticism. This time for far more serious reasons.

In February 2020, Stanley emailed British officials to report that the Chinese were upset that the British government had not sent their counterparts in Beijing a message of support over the coronavirus outbreak

In February 2020, Stanley emailed British officials to report that the Chinese were upset that the British government had not sent their counterparts in Beijing a message of support over the coronavirus outbreak

Last week he gave an extraordinary interview to the South China Morning Post, the leading newspaper in the former British colony of Hong Kong where democracy, following the handover exactly 25 years ago, is being stifled day by day.

In it, Johnson called upon the UK’s parliament to lift a ban on the Chinese ambassador Zheng Zeguang visiting Westminster. Last September the envoy was barred in retaliation for sanctions placed on a number of British politicians — including former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith — who had spoken out against Beijing’s anti-democratic abuses.

Stanley Johnson blithely described Zheng, with whom he had negotiated to secure his TV project, as a ‘very agreeable, capable and intelligent man’. The PM’s father added: ‘I would very much hope that by the time Parliament returns these bans will no longer be in place.’

Cue understandable outrage. And a reminder of the adage: There is no fool like an old fool. So what are the links between the British Prime Minister’s father and one of the world’s largest countries, governed by one of its most repressive regimes?

Would Johnson Senior really have got permission to film in China this summer if he hadn’t been Boris’s dad? Might the Chinese be using him to get closer to the seat of power —and what would be the political price if he’s cosying up to the autocratic regime?

Whatever the answers to these questions, a source close to the Johnson clan told the Mail this week: ‘The family are braced for more flak. It’s just one self-inflicted controversy after another.’

When did Stanley Johnson begin lobbying China for what one acquaintance has called his ‘vanity project’?

It is hard to say. But there are plenty of footprints.

In February 2020 he accidently revealed his close relationship with the Chinese embassy in London.

After he had met the then ambassador, Liu Xiaoming, Stanley emailed British officials to report that the Chinese were upset that the British government had not sent their counterparts in Beijing a message of support over the coronavirus outbreak.

The pandemic is thought to have originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan — home to a world-renowned coronavirus research centre — though the circumstances are still unclear, in large part due to Beijing’s lack of transparency.

By mistake he also sent his assessment to the BBC.

In that same message he said he had raised the possibility of his son visiting China to attend an international conference on biodiversity.

So, Stanley had been acting as de facto envoy for Boris. Was he doing so with the blessing of No 10?

The issue came to the fore again last year when Nigel Farage remarked upon ‘the ever more mysterious role of Stanley, who appears to have been acting as an interlocutor between the previous Chinese ambassador and No 10, running messages back and forth . . . would it be unfair to ask whether he financially benefits out of these pronouncements he’s making?’

Stanley responded with an angry denial, saying: ‘I have absolutely no financial, or indeed any other interest, except believing that it still makes sense to have a good, friendly relationship with the Chinese government and the Chinese people, particularly when we’re confronted with these two great challenges — biodiversity and climate change.’

When did Stanley Johnson begin lobbying China for what one acquaintance has called his ‘vanity project’?

When did Stanley Johnson begin lobbying China for what one acquaintance has called his

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