A chartered British Airways jet carried the Prime Minister to Beijing overnight — allegedly to keep Chinese spies away from the Prime Minister's own government plane — for the first of a three-day trip to China, which the Labour leader hopes will thaw relations after what he called an "ice age".

The hurried trip was only officially announced by China on Tuesday and seems to be something of a reward for Starmer after the British government forced through permission for Beijing to build a new "mega-embassy" in London just last week. The new complex, which will be the largest embassy in Western Europe once completed, has been the subject of intense criticism over spying and national security fears, but was signed off on nevertheless by one of Starmer's government ministers.

While the UK's domestic intelligence agency MI5 said it believes any risks from the new mega-embassy could be mitigated to an acceptable level, the top spooks have nevertheless repeatedly warned of the threat Chinese intelligence poses to Britain. And there appears to be some mitigation underway on this trip, with The Times reporting that Prime Minister Starmer and "his entire team" have been issued with single-use "burner" mobile phones and laptops for their China trip in case they are secretly compromised while in the communist country.

Indeed, it is stated that "no government equipment at all will be taken to the country over concerns about Chinese Communist Party snooping". Former Security Minister and Foreign Affairs Committee chair Tom Tugendhat claimed this even extended to the choice of aircraft. While national flag carrier British Airways is part of the delegation of 60 UK businesses accompanying the Prime Minister to Beijing, and the journey may be beyond the single-leg range of the government's medium-haul private plane, Tugendhat stated swapping the state Airbus for a chartered civilian flight was to confound Chinese spies.

He wrote: "…they're taking a burner plane! The government jet is staying home because it would need to be guarded round the clock to stop China putting bugs on it."

Sir Keir will be the first British Prime Minister to visit China in eight years, since Theresa May's 2018 visit, Beijing being understood to have withheld high-level diplomatic contacts until London agreed to permit that mega-embassy. It has also refused to allow the United Kingdom to replace its own "crumbling" embassy in Beijing to help force the London embassy through.