Page 19TOMOrrOW’S
publication of a book
claiming Lord
Mountbatten was a
paedophile will make uneasy reading for
Prince Charles. But less well known is
Mountbatten’s enthusiasm for Jimmy
Savile, bringing him into the heart of the
royal Family. Savile even smuggled a
young girl into a Buckingham Palace
reception to meet Prince Philip. As
Colonel Commandant of the royal
Marines in 1966, Mountbatten facilitated
Savile’s award of the coveted green beret.
Charles, then in his early 20s, was
dazzled. One royal was immune to
Savile’s charms: The Queen.APROPOS Savile, he was buried with his
green beret, and uniformed Royal
Marines bore his coffin. When he was
exposed as a paedophile the military
expunged his memory, removing memo-
rabilia at their Lympstone HQ in Devon
and re-naming the Savile Room.CArrIE Symonds’ Balmoral debut has
echoes of Camilla’s acceptance by the
Queen after Charles engineered his
mother’s approval of his 2005 marriage.
Technically, after Diana’s death Charles
was a widower in the eyes of the Church,
whereas Boris Johnson is still married to
Marina Wheeler. HM has to show support
for the PM of the day, hence her Highland
nod to Boris’s maitresse-en-titre.MEGHAN Markle’s
friend and apologist,
Indian actress Priya-
nka Chopra, pictured,
upset delegates at a
Los Angeles beauty
convention by sup-
porting the Indian
takeover of Kashmir.
A fellow Asian
grabbed the micro-
phone and declared: ‘As your neighbour,
a Pakistani, I know you are a bit of a hypo-
crite. You are a Unicef ambassador for
peace and you are encouraging nuclear
war against Pakistan.’ The microphone
was swiftly removed.SELF-rIGHTEOUS Emma Thompson is
described in Paris’s Le Journal du
Dimanche as la comedienne anglaise. An
example of her humour? She curses Boris
as a pathological liar crossed with a fat
pig. ’Tis the way she tells ’em!WHAT will British Film Institute patron
Prince Charles think of accreditation
forms for October’s London Film Festival?
It lists 19 gender identities including
androgynous, bigender, gender noncon-
forming, genderqueer/nonbinary, trans-
feminine, transmasculine and two-spirit,
but at least it has male and female.ENGLAND women’s team boss Phil
Neville urges football to instigate a six-
month boycott of social media after racist
tweets against penalty misser Paul
Pogba. But has he asked his motormouth
TV pundit brother Gary – four million
followers and 16,000 tweets – to cease his
online babble?A GUSHING Guardian profile of Radio 1
breakfast show DJ Greg James credits his
wife, Bella Mackie, with improving his
woke ‘empathy’. She’s the daughter of
ex-Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger. James
has been granted helpful coverage in the
paper ever since their marriage last year.Daily Mail, Wednesday, August 21, 2019To order a print of this Paul Thomas cartoon or one by Pugh, visit Mailpictures.newsprints.co.uk or call 020 7566 0360.Ephraim
Hardcastle
ference, China’s top political
advisory body.
A loyalist to the Beijing regime,
Mr Leung said China hopes for a
‘more positive and respectful
tone in the near future’. He said:
‘Should you seek to agitate mat-
ters further, the Chinese govern-
ment will elaborate further with‘Future
consequences’Email: [email protected]kong, but they plainly reveal
the depths to which China’s
enforcers are willing to sink to
silence criticism. The Uk mean-
while should insist that China
has questions to answer. In 40
years in Parliament I have never
received a letter like this.’
n Twitter suspended more than
200,000 accounts that it believes
were part of a state-backed Chi-
nese influence campaign to sow
political discord in Hong kong
by undermining the protest
movement’s legitimacy.
Many accounts pushed tweets
depicting protesters as violent
criminals. The Chinese govern-
ment said it was not aware of
the allegations.tries. Tom Tugendhat, chair-
man of the foreign affairs select
committee, said Britain should
give Hong kong citizens full Uk
nationality as a means of reas-
surance amid the standoff.
He said this should have hap-
pened in 1997 when it was
handed back to Chinese control- and that doing so now would
reassure Hong kong citizens
they were supported by the Uk.
In the letter, signed by CY
Leung, politicians were told
that extending such rights
should have ‘at best, United
kingdom foreign office approval
and at least a referendum from
the British people’. It also noted
that Britain had no say in Hong
kong affairs.
Mr Leung, who attended uni-
versity in Bristol, also accused
MPs of making ‘clear defama-
tory remarks in parliament
about topics that they neither
have factual information on, nor
seek to ascertain the truth’.
Last night, Lord Alton said:
‘These appalling bully-boy let-
ters are insignificant compared
to the seismic events of HongBy Larisa Brown
and Sam Greenhill
CHINA has threatened MPs
and peers to stop being ‘disre-
spectful’ over Hong kong – or
face the ‘consequences’.
Leung Chun-ying, former head of
the Hong kong government,
warned senior politicians who had
spoken out about the protests to
stop spreading ‘false statements’
and to take a more ‘positive and
respectful tone’.
In a chilling letter, he said: ‘We seek
that the British government lowers its
tone with regards to false statements
that inflames protests and riots in
Hong kong. The immediate cessation
of the liberal agenda would be optimal
to ensure future successful relation-
ship with China.’
Mr Leung, also known as CY
Leung, is now vice chairman of the
National Committee of the Chinese
People’s Political Consultative Con-A BRITISH consular official work-
ing in Hong Kong has disappeared
after a trip to mainland China.
The Foreign Office yesterday said
it was ‘extremely concerned’
about Simon Cheng Man-kit, who
was detained while crossing from
the Chinese city of Shenzhen back
into Hong Kong earlier this month.
British officials said they were
seeking information from China
about the trade and investment
officer. His detention comes amidheightened tensions over protests
in the former UK colony of Hong
Kong. Security has been stepped
up at the border with China.
Local media said Mr Cheng Man-
kit went to a business event in
Shenzhen on August 8. His girl-
friend shared online messages
from him, in which he wrote he
was at the border, adding ‘pray
for me’. Chinese foreign ministry
spokesman Geng Shuang claimed
he was ‘not aware’ of the case.China threat to
‘disrespectful’
UK politicians
over Hong Kong
‘I’m drinking to forget that our parents are middle class!’
Beijing holds British consulate worker
regards to future consequences.’
The warning comes after 11
weeks of clashes between activ-
ists and police in Hong kong – a
former British-ruled territory –
which have sparked tensions
between China and Britain.
The protests were sparked by
a controversial extradition bill,
which has since been sus-
pended. They have now
morphed into a broader move-
ment demanding democratic
reform and an investigation into
alleged police brutality.
Such a direct threat to British
parliamentarians by a foreign
power is unprecedented and will
likely further inflame tensions
between the two countries.
One of the letters was sent to
Lord David Alton, an independ-
ent cross-bench peer, who has
said the Uk should guarantee
the citizenship of Hong kong
people in Commonwealth coun-Simon Cheng Man-kitSARAH VINE IS AWAY