Perhaps India, rather than China, should be the target of Britain’s charm offensive

In many ways, India seems the UK's most natural trading partner in the east - but for now, the brute truth is that China has piles of cash looking for a return abroad, and India doesn't

According to Steve Hilton, former chief strategist to David Cameron, Britain is humiliating itself unnecessarily by "sucking up" to China when instead it could be "rolling out the red carpet" for India. "We should prioritise our relationship with India because that's where the opportunity is," he said this week on BBC Newsnight, striking a resonant chord with the many British citizens, of Indian origin and otherwise, who see India as the more natural and sympathetic ally. Parliamentary democracy, a free media, the English language, tea with milk: however ruthless and greedy British imperialism may have been, its 250-year history in India left that country with several of the imperfect institutions, beliefs and habits that Britain finds familiar and admirable.

Related: Xi Jinping in London - in pictures

Related: Crowd chants 'Modi, Modi' as Indian PM winds up whirlwind Silicon Valley tour

Continue reading...