Johnson urged to follow Biden in boycott of Beijing Games

BORIS JOHNSON faces growing pressure from senior Tories to stage a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics, following reports the Biden administration will swerve the Games.

Former minister Tim Loughton last night wrote to the Prime Minister urging him to ban any official UK diplomatic representation at the Games, which start in China in less than three months’ time.

The letter was also signed by Tom Tugendhat, Tory chairman of the Commons foreign affairs committee; Sir Iain Duncan Smith, the former Conservative Party leader; former minister Nusrat Ghani; and crossbench peer Lord Alton of Liverpool.

The five parliamentarians are leading China hawks who have been outspoken over the issue of human rights abuse against the Muslim Uyghur minority in Xinjiang province. They were among 10 UK individuals and organisations sanctioned by the Chinese Communist Party, who accused them of spreading “lies and disinformation” about human rights violations, in March this year.

The five parliamentarians wrote: “We welcome this move by the United States and believe that it is vital that we keep up the momentum and follow suit.”

Their intervention came after the Washington Post reported that the White House is poised to announce that neither Joe Biden nor any other American government officials will attend the Beijing Games. A formal recommendation has been made to the President to enact the move, which would be a partial boycott since US athletes would still be able to compete in the Games.

British Government sources last night insisted that a UK diplomatic boycott was not under “active consideration”, but conceded that the decision was yet to be taken over who may attend the event from the British Government.

MPS on the committee also said businesses should be urged not to sponsor advertising at the Games, while fans and tourists should be encouraged to stay away from Beijing.

In addition, athletes should be discouraged from supporting or accepting the Chinese government’s “propaganda efforts while in-country”, the MPS’ report said.