The UK has confirmed it has not lifted sanctions on any Chinese individuals, but it is not known if restrictions have been lifted on other people sanctioned by China, including Loughton who stood down at the general election in 2024.
Sir Geoffrey Nice KC, chair of the Uyghur Tribunal, which is investigating atrocities against the minority group, was also sanctioned, as was Newcastle University academic Jo Smith Finley, whose research focuses on the Uyghurs.
Former security minister Tugendhat accused the prime minister of securing too little, despite sanctions on him lifted.
He told BBC Radio 4’s World at One programme that the China deal was “frankly extraordinary and unbelievably bad, not just for this particular round of diplomatic activity but for Britain’s standing in the world”.
He also criticised the “abasement before going, so allowing the mega embassy and not demanding the release of Jimmy Lai, who as we know is a British citizen in prison in Hong Kong for now more than 1,000 days for the crime of journalism”.
The deal was also criticised by Liberal Democrat MP Wera Hobhouse, who says she was “arbitrarily denied entry” to Hong Kong to visit her newborn grandson last year. She said a diplomatic reset that ignores “the existence of secret bans” is “not a reset at all”.
Hobhouse, a member of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, has not officially been sanctioned. She was held at the airport, questioned and sent back to Britain – a decision she believes was taken to silence her.
“We need assurance from the prime minister that all parliamentarians can criticise the actions of the Chinese Communist Party without fear of retribution,” she said.