Has Starmer struck a murky deal with the Chinese to let them build a £750million mega-embassy MI5 says is a security risk?

The fortified Royal Mint complex in East London resembled the set of a B-grade horror movie as it was lashed last week by the gusting winds and torrential rain of Storm Herminia. The monstrous new embassy would be China's biggest in Europe, almost twice the size of its facility in Washington, and would replace the country's diplomatic mission in Portland Place, central London. The monstrous embassy would be China's biggest in Europe, almost twice the size of its facility in Washington 'It's extraordinary, unprecedented and absolutely desperate,' says Kevin Hollinrake, shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, who accuses the government of caving in to Chinese pressure and pressuring the police to change their position. Tragically it seems Sir Keir has taken a leaf out of Xi Jinping's playbook, with potentially serious consequences for UK security, writes Ian Williams Sensitive communications cables are believed to run beneath the site – serving the City of London, one of the world's most important financial centres and a lifeline for the most vital part of the British economy. If, as opponents suspect, the embassy is a done deal – part of Sir Keir's 'operation kowtow', the government's apparent campaign to curry favour with China in the hope of economic rewards – it runs the risk of legal challenge, since subverting the inquiry could open ministers to judicial review.