Senior ruling Conservative MPs have accused one of the most senior UK diplomats in China, Consul General Zheng Ziyuan, of being on the Manchester scene and tearing up posters during a peaceful protest.
The removal of the six Chinese envoys is likely to appease China hardliners in the Conservative Party, who have called for their expulsion and accused the UK government of appeasing Beijing.
MP Alicia Kearns, chair of parliament’s oversight foreign affairs committee, welcomed the development, saying the six had “fled the UK like cowards, explaining their crime”.
“The Foreign Office must now declare those people persona non grata, and make clear they will never again be welcome in the UK,” he said in a statement.