Then Xi is shaking hands with Finland’s prime minister Petteri Orpo in front of the same artwork. Then Canada’s prime minister Mark Carney. Still, with the British economy and Starmer’s premiership in a parlous state, the prime minister was never likely to correct the record. Instead, he praised his “very warm and constructive” talks with Xi, which he hoped would lead to a “more sophisticated” relationship between the UK and China. The main evening news programme on CCTV on 29 January, for instance, featured an 18-minute montage of Xi hosting Starmer.