British exports to China? Pigs might fly . . .

FiRsT, Chinese ambassador Liu Xiaoming wagged his finger at Theresa May over her refusal to sign off the £18 billion hinkley Point nuclear power station.

‘i hope the UK will keep its door open to China,’ he wrote in the Financial Times.

Then Lord Mandelson, the former Trade secretary and long-standing cheerleader for China, intervened in what looks like a carefully co-ordinated campaign by Beijing, which is a huge investor in hinkley.

‘We can’t be too fussy who we do trade with,’ said Mandelson, who’s never been fussy who he works with as long as he’s paid.

But what about the quid pro quo? is China open for business from the UK? Little noticed last month was an exchange of letters between food minister George Eustice and Tory MP Nigel Adams, who wants to know what’s happened to a much-trumpeted deal to sell pigs’ trotters to China.

Eustice wrote: ‘The UK Agriculture, Food And Drink Counsellor in Beijing meets with the Chinese Certification And Accreditation Administration (CNCA) on a regular basis to raise the importance of reaching agreement on the export of pigs’ trotters to China.

‘The most recent meeting took place in July, where agreement was reached on some additional information required by CNCA on which Defra is working as a priority.’

some priority! The contract, worth a paltry £20 million compared to £18billion for hinkley, was signed in 2008 by Gordon Brown on a trade mission to China.

Eight years later, British pigs’ trotters are still not for sale in China.