{"id":406617,"date":"2026-02-04T02:00:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T02:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/406617\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T02:00:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T02:00:07","slug":"jimmy-lais-son-says-uk-government-did-not-do-enough-to-help-him-on-china-visit-jimmy-lai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/406617\/","title":{"rendered":"Jimmy Lai\u2019s son says UK government did not do enough to help him on China visit | Jimmy Lai"},"content":{"rendered":"

The British son of the jailed Hong Kong<\/a> media entrepreneur Jimmy Lai has criticised the UK government for failing to place conditions on his father\u2019s release during the prime minister\u2019s visit to China last week.<\/p>\n

Speaking at a parliamentary hearing on Tuesday, Sebastien Lai said his father\u2019s incarceration<\/a> was not only a humanitarian and national security issue, but an issue \u201cwhere our values are being locked up\u201d along with him.<\/p>\n

Sebastien Lai says time is running out for his father, who is in poor health. Photograph: Jill Mead\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

The remarks come after the first trip to China by a UK leader in eight years, during which Keir Starmer is said to have raised the case of the former media tycoon<\/a> and one of Hong Kong\u2019s most significant pro-democracy voices.<\/p>\n

In December 2025, Lai, a British citizen, was convicted of national security offences in December after a near two-year trial that international rights groups criticised as politically motivated and an attack on press freedom.<\/p>\n

Weeks before the prime minister\u2019s visit, it is understood Lai met with the foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper, and discussed the importance of his father\u2019s case as well as the 78-year-old\u2019s deteriorating health in solitary confinement.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it is so important then surely there should be some conditionalities put on my father\u2019s release. The trip was a big thing to have been given away, the embassy as well,\u201d said Lai, speaking at an all-party parliamentary group on arbitrary detention and hostage affairs<\/a> hearing on his father\u2019s case.<\/p>\n

The UK government wants closer ties with the world\u2019s second biggest economy and approved the new highly contested Chinese embassy in London last month. While there were some tangible gains from the trip \u2013 a visa waiver, the dropping of sanctions on British MPs and peers, and investment in China<\/a> by British firms \u2013 criticism came from parliamentarians questioning why the prime minister travelled to Beijing with the embassy \u201cin our back pocket\u201d without first securing Lai\u2019s release.<\/p>\n

\u201cTime is running out for my father,\u201d said Lai. \u201cSurely a man who defended freedom deserves a bit of it himself.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is understood Lai has been told that his father\u2019s case was raised by Starmer during his visit, although he has not yet met the prime minister or foreign secretary since. There is no indication of when his father\u2019s sentencing will take place, Sebastien said, adding it would be catastrophic for both government\u2019s should his father pass away in prison.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a tragedy that the only thing that came out of this trip was Johnnie Walker not Jimmy Lai<\/a>,\u201d said the former governor of Hong Kong Chris Patten, referring to the reduction on whisky taxes agreed between the two nations during Starmer\u2019s visit.<\/p>\n

Hong Kong businessman Jimmy Lai in 2020. Photograph: Vincent Yu\/AP<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were told that the PM raised Jimmy Lai\u2019s case,\u201d said Lord Patten. \u201cWhat we don\u2019t know is that the Chinese said in response \u2026 what was the extent of their discussion?\u201d<\/p>\n

While a shift in urgency on the government\u2019s behalf was noted by the head of Lai\u2019s international legal team, Caoilfhionn Gallagher KC \u2013 who has met Starmer and Cooper \u2013 she said the strategy remains to be seen.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe make no secret of the fact we think there\u2019s been a strategic misstep in not putting conditionality,\u201d said Gallagher. \u201cIt feels to us the UK hasn\u2019t necessarily played the cards it has as well as it could have.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The British son of the jailed Hong Kong media entrepreneur Jimmy Lai has criticised the UK government for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":406618,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-406617","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=406617"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406617\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/406618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=406617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=406617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=406617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}