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Sir Keir Starmer wrapped up a four-day visit to China on Saturday, attacked by Donald Trump for his “dangerous” engagement with Beijing, dubbed “Sir Kowtow” by the right-wing press and accused by opponents of having little to show for his disinterest.

Amidst tight security and surrounded by aides carrying burner phones, Starmer ended the trip with questions about whether he had been advised to wear under the duvet to avoid spy cameras in his bedroom. “I’m not, and I’m not,” he exclaimed.

Facing a threatened Labor Party Insurrection at home, does the prime minister – whom critics call “non-here Keir” – wonder if this trip is worth it? Starmer is firm: improving relations with China is in the national interest.

“Engaging China is how we get growth for British businesses, support good jobs at home and protect our national security,” he said, arguing that the end of Beijing’s diplomatic “ice age” would have a direct impact on the lives of voters.

The initial fruits of this good relationship were quite modest. Downing Street claimed the prime minister’s first visit to China in eight years had delivered £2.2bn in export deals and around £2.3bn in “market access gains”, including in agriculture, sport and life sciences.

Tariffs on whiskey will be cut from 10 percent to 5 percent on Monday and Downing Street said it was “absolutely confident” that President Xi Jinping would deliver a deal to introduce visa-free travel for UK citizens bound for China. There is a British official called “talks about talks”. liberalization on SERVICES.

To put these perceived gains, Starmer’s government claimed it secured £150bn of US investment during Trump’s state visit in September, although the “tech prosperity deal” signed by the two leaders has yet to materialise.

But Starmer insists the “warm and constructive” relationship he struck up with Xi on Thursday will pay dividends in the longer term. His allies claim deals worth “tens of billions” of pounds could take place over the next decade, from energy to financial services and the arts.

A British official said the Starmer-Xi meeting was “a strong signal that it is OK to do business with the Brits. It reinforces a message of engagement”. Prior to Starmer’s election in July 2024, relations with Beijing had soured under successive Conservative governments.

Even some of Starmer’s critics within the Labor Party agree that the prime minister is deftly managing difficult geopolitical relationships – with Trump’s America, post-Brexit Europe and Xi Jinping – trying to leverage more trade from all of them.

A senior Labor MP said Starmer owed much to the advice of his veteran national security adviser, Jonathan Powell, who joined the UK prime minister in a so-called “tête-à-tête” with Xi on Thursday.

“He is surrounded by fools when it comes to domestic policy,” the MP said. “He really needs some political advice of the caliber of Powell’s diplomatic advice.”

On Friday, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch used Starmer’s visit to highlight their different approaches to economic policy, accusing the government of being “dependent” on importing goods from China.

“Keir Starmer went to China desperate for its support because his entire economic policy is dependent on Chinese imports: wind turbines, solar panels and car batteries,” he wrote in X.

Robert Jenrick, the Reform UK MP who recently defected to the Conservatives, accused Starmer of offering “himself as tribute” to Beijing for little economic benefit.

“He made concessions that undermined our security in the vain hope of better relations — and he still left Beijing almost empty-handed,” Jenrick said.

Critics of the UK’s approach to China also highlighted what they saw as snubs from the Chinese leadership towards Starmer during the trip.

Luke de Pulford, head of the hawkish Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, said China’s decision to have Starmer visit the Forbidden City with only a tour guide, with other tourists still wandering around, was an obvious slight.

When US President Donald Trump visited the Forbidden City in 2017, President Xi gave him a private tour. “The Chinese put a lot of effort into signaling importance through protocol,” de Pulford told X.

But Starmer’s experience is not in line with many other foreign leaders who have been given a more modest tour of the complex.

In general, China was receptive to his trip, as it took advantage of the gaps created by Trump’s attacks on Nato and its western trading partners.

Starmer’s visit follows others since November by middle powers traditionally aligned with the US including the heads of state of France, Spain, South Korea, Canada, Finland and Ireland. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is due in the coming weeks.

Starmer rejected Trump’s criticism of the his “dangerous” association with China on trade, announcing that the US president himself will go to Beijing in April.

Whether any of this high-level diplomacy will make Starmer look good at home in the near term is an even bigger question. Some of his MPs would prefer that he spend more time in Number 10 to get his administration adrift. “It’s not going to work,” was one minister’s grim assessment.