Keir Starmer Risks Donald Trump's Fury By Green-Lighting Chinese Spy Hub In UK

Keir Starmer is on the brink of a diplomatic gamble that could further inflame relations with Donald Trump, as the Prime Minister prepares to approve a controversial Chinese mega-embassy in central London.

The move comes at a delicate moment, with Washington already angered by Britain's handling of the Chagos Islands and Trump openly questioning the UK's strategic judgement.

With Starmer also poised to announce his first official visit to Beijing, critics warn the decision risks signalling a dangerous tilt towards China just as the UK needs American goodwill to avoid a deepening trade and security rift.

Trump's Unprecedented Attack and the Chagos Islands Fury

Trump's assault on Starmer's handling of Diego Garcia has left senior officials scrambling.

In a blistering post on Truth Social, the US President declared that by transferring sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, Britain had effectively handed a strategic victory to Beijing and Moscow. 'There is no doubt that China and Russia have noticed this act of total weakness,' Trump fumed, weaponising the decision to justify America's ambitions to acquire Greenland.​

The agreement, finalised in May 2025, allows both the United States and the United Kingdom to maintain operations at the Diego Garcia military base for 99 years. Yet Trump's position has shifted seismically from his administration's earlier public support for the deal, a reversal that has left Downing Street scrambling to contain the damage.

The President's attack marks an extraordinary rupture with a supposed close ally, undermining Starmer's carefully constructed strategy of maintaining strong American relations.​

Starmer's response to Trump's threats of tariffs—insisting such measures would be counterproductive—appears to have only stoked the President's ire further. For a Prime Minister who has staked much of his foreign policy on cultivating Trump's favour, this represents a catastrophic miscalculation at a critical juncture for his government.​

The Chinese Embassy Approval: A Time Bomb in East London

Within hours of these fireworks, Starmer is poised to hand Beijing another diplomatic victory by approving the controversial Chinese mega-embassy on the site of the former Royal Mint in Tower Hamlets, a stone's throw from the Tower of London.

The decision, expected this week, will consolidate China's scattered diplomatic presence across London into a single, expansive 22,000-square-metre facility—the largest Chinese embassy in Europe.​

The proposal has been mired in controversy for seven years, plagued by genuine security concerns that Washington has repeatedly flagged.

Critics, including opposition Conservative politicians and Labour MPs, have raised alarm about the location's proximity to critical data cables carrying sensitive financial information between London's banking districts.

The design itself raises eyebrows: the facility includes 208 secret rooms and a hidden chamber located disturbingly close to infrastructure vital to the City and Canary Wharf.​

Perhaps most troubling, dissidents and security analysts have warned that such a sprawling diplomatic presence could facilitate intensified surveillance and intimidation of Chinese exiles in Britain.

The Treasury Committee has expressed serious concern about the project's proximity to sensitive financial infrastructure, with one Conservative MP warning it could give China 'a launchpad for economic warfare against our nation'.

Former parliamentary researcher Christopher Cash and academic Christopher Berry were even charged with spying for Beijing last year—a case that mysteriously collapsed when the UK government refused to officially brand China a national security threat.​

Yet intelligence officials, including Ciaran Martin, former chief executive of GCHQ's National Cyber Security Centre, have indicated the risks are manageable and that security services have cleared the proposal. The government argues that consolidating China's seven separate diplomatic locations into a single site actually enhances security oversight.​

The Perfect Storm

The optics are simply damaging. Approving the embassy whilst Trump is fuming over the Chagos decision—and mere days before Starmer's first visit to Beijing since 2018—sends a message to Washington that Starmer is actively tilting towards Beijing at precisely the moment he needs America's support.

Trump's relationship with China is deeply uneasy; he remains suspicious of the world's second-largest economy, particularly given its military alignment with Russia and Vladimir Putin.​​

For Starmer, the challenge is balancing economic pragmatism with strategic alliances. Allies fear that, taken together, the Chagos row and the embassy approval could undermine the UK's standing as a reliable partner at a moment of heightened geopolitical tension.

Whether the Prime Minister can calm Trump's anger while defending his China strategy may prove one of the defining tests of his foreign policy leadership.