My Take | Denying anti-China MP entry may be bad press but perfectly justified

British politicians like Wera Hobhouse make a living by kicking up a fuss. So when Hong Kong authorities denied her entry at the airport, naturally, it presented the perfect opportunity.

Now the Liberal Democrat member of parliament has made so much noise even the Foreign Secretary David Lammy is on the case, demanding an explanation. She said it was because China wanted to shut her up. What, by giving her a perfect excuse to broadcast her “ordeal” for the UK media to lap it up?

Well, I have an explanation for Lammy and Hobhouse.

The Lib Dem is a key member of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (Ipac), a malignant propaganda outfit filled with European and US political hacks pretending to be activists. Usually, you have activists fighting politicians but these guys like to cosplay as they are heavily funded by the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy, essentially an outlet for the island’s independence, and the National Endowment for Democracy, a US congressional-funded body pretending to be an independent NGO – according to a 2021 investigation by Junge Welt, a German left-wing publication.

The way Hobhouse told it, you would have thought Hong Kong immigration officials strip-searched and cattle-prodded her. Officials said she was questioned but refused to cooperate. She said she behaved like a perfect lady. In the event, her husband was allowed into the city but decided to join her on the flight back home. She said it was supposed to be a private visit to see their son and newborn grandchild.

I don’t want to second-guess immigration officers, but I would have let her in after questioning. She would still have made a fuss just for being questioned but it would have perfectly exposed her hypocrisy and that of Ipac.

Apparently her son has decided to work and raise a family in Hong Kong since 2019. But isn’t Hong Kong supposed to be like George Orwell’s 1984 now?