JAMES BOND goes back into action tomorrow but the makers of the new film have had to set the super spy up against his old foe Blofeld in Spectre.
That’s largely because it’s not clear who the real world baddies are any more.
In Tomorrow Never Dies Bond was up against the Chinese.
But last week the UK rolled out the entirely apt red carpet for President Xi of China.
Just as at the end of Tomorrow Never Dies Bond inevitably ends up with a Chinese agent in his arms, so George Osborne is keen to get similarly close to Beijing.
Like an autumn leaf on the turn relations with China have gone from regarding them as potential foe to what the PM keeps referring to as a golden age.
It was announced that the Chinese are going to be allowed to build a new power plant but Bond’s fellow spooks in real life are going to be keeping an eye on the operation to make sure the communists aren’t nobbling our nuclear infrastructure.
Some golden age.
It’s not just foreign relations that are topsy turvy these days.
During a debate on government plans to cut tax credits last week it was a Tory who provided the most cutting critique of the policy.
Heidi Allen announced her arrival in parliament in dramatic fashion.
After being elected in May she’d apparently decided to go undercover and not actually make any speeches in the Commons chamber, regarding it as a waste of time.
That’s a novel approach to being an MP for sure.
But one that’s not without merit. Maybe she can do more good beavering away for her constituents from her office rather than trying and failing to convince Corbynistas and nationalists that the Tories are not entirely wicked.
China’s President Xi and David Cameron (Getty Images)
Perversely when she did decide to make a speech she convinced the opposition benches of exactly that.
Like a double agent Allen used her maiden speech to rip into her own government’s decision to cut tax credits that will, according to a number of respected sources, tip many families into poverty.
Allen may have appeared to go rogue but she ended up shooting blanks. She said her piece but still trooped through the government lobby to vote down Labour’s motion condemning the cuts.
It is perhaps a sign of the paucity of the current Labour operation that even in their own debate it’s a Tory who steals the show. But then things are always upside down in the Corbyn camp, filled with more intrigue than MI6 headquarters.
Much was made of the fact the Labour leader turned up to the dispatch box on Monday wearing a sharp suit and shirt and with his tie fastened smartly.
When the fact that the leader of the opposition has managed to dress himself correctly is worthy of note it’s clear Labour are lacking.
But Corbyn’s clobber drew more attention on Tuesday when he attended the state banquet in honour of President Xi in white tie and tails. Corbyn’s a socialist and a republican yet he swanned along to Buckingham Palace in the uniform of the elite.
The same outfit David Cameron used to wear when in the super snooty Bullingdon Club at university.
At a meeting with the Chinese leader Corbyn apparently raised concerns about human rights but there was plenty of talk of co-operation as well.
Even Corbyn recognises the UK cannot ignore the Chinese market.
On that he and George Osborne are in agreement.
These days George Formby would have to retitle his song “Mr Wu’s a world beater now” and that’s why the pragmatist Chancellor woos China with such enthusiasm.
Like a bad sweet and sour prawn, dealing with Beijing despite its lack of democracy and human rights may leave a bad taste but as China becomes the biggest economy in the world it will be necessary.
As Sam Smith sings in his Spectre song: “The writing’s on the wall.”
Listen to James Millar’s latest Politics Podcast below:
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