Brendan Nelson, the new chairman of HSBC Holdings, will be among the business leaders who travel to China with Sir Keir Starmer next week as the prime minister tries to reset Britain’s relationship with Beijing.
Sky News has learnt that Mr Nelson, who only took over as the bank’s permanent chair last month, will be part of Sir Keir’s business delegation, alongside executives from companies expected to include London Stock Exchange Group, Prudential and Rolls-Royce.
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The visit will be the first by a British premier since 2018, when Theresa May took a business delegation to China.
One private sector source said the short notice involved in arranging the trip meant a number of companies were likely to send executives other than their CEOs with the PM.
Reuters reported this week that a revamped UK-China CEO Council was likely to be unveiled next week, with representatives from companies including AstraZeneca, BP and Jaguar Land Rover expected to participate.
The go-ahead for Sir Keir’s visit came after the government this week approved plans for a new Chinese embassy in London – a decision which has been mired in controversy over perceived security risks.
Business leaders have joined prime ministers on a string of previous visits to Beijing, including during the premiership of David Cameron, who hailed a ‘golden era’ of relations between the two countries.
The relationship has cooled significantly in recent times amid geopolitical stresses, and there remain doubts over whether other bilateral economic forums between Britain and China – including the Economic and Financial Dialogue – will take place as scheduled this year.
«We had the golden age, which then flipped to an ice age,» Sir Keir said in a speech last month.
«We reject that binary choice,» he said, adding that China was a «nation of immense scale, ambition and ingenuity» and «a defining force in technology, in trade and global governance».
None of the companies contacted by Sky News would comment.