Tom Tugendhat
MP for Tonbridge; former security minister
Tugendhat was first elected in 2015. The son of a high court judge, Tugendhat served in Iraq and Afghanistan, and later became a military assistant to the chief of the defence staff.
He chaired the foreign affairs select committee between 2017 and 2022. After the sanctions were announced, he said it was a “direct assault on British democracy and an attempt to silence the British people”.
Iain Duncan Smith
MP for Chingford and Woodford Green; former work and pensions secretary
Duncan Smith, who served as the leader of the Conservative party from 2001 to 2003, was sanctioned for his involvement as co-chair of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, an international alliance of parliamentarians that examine China’s role in global trade, security and human rights issues.
He has been one of the most hawkish voices in parliament on China for a number of years, criticising both Conservative and Labour governments for their approach towards Beijing on security and human rights issues.
Nus Ghani
MP for Sussex Weald; deputy Commons speaker
Born in Pakistani-administered Kashmir, Ghani attended school in Birmingham and became the first female MP of her constituency (then Wealden) in 2015.
In 2020, Ghani launched an inquiry into the use of Uyghur forced labour within UK business supply chains. A month after she was sanctioned by China, Ghani tabled a motion in the Commons for parliament to recognise that China was perpetuating genocide against the Uyghurs, which was passed unanimously.
Neil O’Brien
MP for Harborough, Oadby and Wigston
O’Brien, elected in 2017, is the shadow minister for policy renewal and development. Born in Huddersfield, O’Brien previously served as a special adviser to George Osborne, as chancellor, and Theresa May, during her first year as prime minister.
In 2020, O’Brien co-founded the China Research Group with Tugendhat, to “promote debate and fresh thinking about how Britain should respond to the rise of China”.
Tim Loughton
Former MP for East Worthing and Shoreham
Loughton held the West Sussex seat from 1997 until he stood down during the 2024 election. A former banker in the City of London, he held the role of children’s minister after the 2010 election.
He was sanctioned for being a member of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, along with Helena Kennedy, Ghani, David Alton and Duncan Smith.
As the statement from Starmer only alluded to sitting parliamentarians, it is unclear whether Loughton will still face sanctions.
Helena Kennedy
Lady Kennedy is a Scottish barrister and Labour peer. She was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1991, and was a chair of the pressure group Charter 88, which called for constitutional and electoral reform. She was made a life peer in 1997.
Alongside Duncan Smith and the activist Luke de Pulford, she created the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China in 2020 and now sits as a co-chair of the organisation.
David Alton
Crossbench peer; former Liberal MP
Elected in 1979 as MP for Liverpool Edge Hill, Lord Alton was made a life peer in 1997. In 2021, he introduced the genocide amendment to the Trade Act in the Lords, which would require the UK not to trade with countries that are committing genocide. It was rejected in the Commons.
He described the decision by China to impose sanctions on him as a “crude attempt to silence criticism”.
