A UK Member of Parliament, (MP), has been refused entry to China. Apparently Wera Hobhouse, who was born in Germany, [3] and who once claimed GBP 4,800.00 on expenses for an office printer, [4] was trying to get into China because her son works as an academic in China and she wanted to visit her grandchild. She was refused entry. The UK is up in arms. David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, has said that it was “deeply concerning to hear that an MP on a personal trip has been refused entry to Hong Kong” and “We will urgently raise this with the authorities in Hong Kong and Beijing to demand an explanation. [1][2]
Her party leader has issued a strong statement urging the Foreign Secretary to “summon the Chinese ambassador to provide a full account of why a British MP and her family have been treated in such an appalling way””. [1]
Another government Minister, John Reynolds, told a TV show, “There hasn’t been an account provided at this stage. Obviously if Wera has been denied access because she’s a British MP, that would be something we take very seriously.” [1]
Wera, herself, paints an upsetting picture: “When I was given the decision my voice was shaking and I was just saying: ‘Why, please explain to me.’ They never gave me an explanation. That was so cruel. I just said: ‘I want to see my grandson. I want to cuddle him.” [1]
Now, for the context. Wera Hobhouse is a member of an organisation called Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (Ipac). This is an organisation seemingly of politicians from the West who actively campaign against China. They have a website. [5] On this website we learn that this organisation exists to, “address threats to the rules-based and human rights systems posed by the rise of China” and to “confront the PRC’s rise”. Reader can look for themselves. Once they’ve done that they will see why a statement from China’s Foreign Ministry last year said that the organisation, “deliberately hypes up issues related to China, spreads lies on China and has no credibility at all.”. [6]
Other British MPs, who are reported to be members of this network are also denouncing China, urging the government to “take a very strong stand in addressing this affront to democratic principles and personal freedoms”. They also said “That they appear to have done so [China refusing entry to Ms Hobhouse] because of an objection to something a UK MP has said in the legitimate exercise of her duties is a challenge to our core values as a nation.”[1]
The Guardian story notes that 3 British MPs who are/were also members of this anti-China organisation have been “banned from entering the country”. (I am not clear if that meant that Visas were not issued or they were turned away at the border). This being the case it is clear that Wera Hobhouse must have considered that there was a real possibility of her being refused entry. This then, looks like a political stunt. She was “crying about her grandchild” but she in all honesty cannot have been surprised by the turn of events. She appears to be wielding the grandchild and her tears as part of a campaign against “cruel” China.
On another point; I do not know the specific laws relating to entry to China but I do know that for both the US and Russia possession of a Visa does not give someone a guaranteed right to be able to enter the country. Local immigration officials can refuse entry if they so wish. I would assume that this is the same system for most countries, including China. No one has a guaranteed right to enter into another country other than under the rules of that country. From that point of view there isn’t even a story here. And China is under no obligation to “justify” their decision. It does, however, seem very likely to be connected to this lady’s activism. And, then we can ask, why should China allow into their country someone who is committed to “confront the rise of” their country? Even without thinking through any security ramifications, (was she on some kind of an Ipac mission?), why should they let someone in who is actively working, as they would see it, against their country?
I’m struck by the anti-China group of British MPs saying that this refusal to let their activist colleague into China “is a challenge to our core values as a nation.” This is an example of the problem of the ideology of democratic internationalism and democratic regime change theory. No one has an automatic right to enter China at all, and someone who makes it her business to campaign against modern China’s rise, is clearly unlikely to be welcome. The message I would offer the parliamentary colleagues of Wera Hobhouse is that British “core values”, (presumably they mean of free speech), are just that, British values. They are not world values. Therefore there has been no challenge to them. Britannia, my dear friends, no longer rules the seas. The mistake is to believe that “our core values” apply all over the world, to everyone; but they don’t. (Even if China had exactly the same attitude to “free speech” as the UK, and I am pretty sure they don’t, they are still well within their rights to decline to let someone into their country who is involved in activism against their country). One hopes that when David Lammy “demands” his explanation he is a little more diplomatic.
Notes
- https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/apr/13/outcry-after-british-mp-refused-entry-to-hong-kong
- https://www.reuters.com/world/hong-kong-denies-entry-british-opposition-lawmaker-2025-04-13/
- https://www.werahobhouse.co.uk/about/
- https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/news/bath-mp-wera-hobhouse-claims-1795678
- https://www.ipac.global/
- https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-04-13/british-mp-hobhouse-denied-entry-into-hong-kong-ft-reports