Psycho Raab confused at being the biggest dove in the Commons on China | John Crace

The foreign secretary tried to take a tough line but found it wasn't enough to satisfy any MPs

Sometimes you just can't win. Just a week after announcing he was barring Huawei from the UK's 5G network by 2027 - the Chinese had apparently promised they wouldn't do any spying in the next seven years - Dominic Raab was back in the Commons to make yet another ministerial statement. This time to indefinitely suspend the extradition treaty with Hong Kong and to impose an arms embargo on the territory.

Try to think of it as tough love", the foreign secretary insisted. If we didn't adore the Chinese so much and admire their progress this century then we wouldn't be making such a fuss. But now we had such high expectations of them, it was only right that we submit China to the same level of scrutiny as we would any other country. Apart from the ones with appalling records of human rights abuses from which we made a small fortune flogging arms. Those could all be safely overlooked.