I want to tell you a story…
About someone called Bates….
Not Norma Bates, the fictional character created by American author Robert Bloch in his 1959 thriller novel Psycho but Lady Xuelin Li Bates
Lady Xuelin Li has a accountSecretary General of UK Chinese Business Association.
In 2012 she married Michael Bates who is a Member of the UK Parliament. She is connected to Communist Party circles in China. In 2018 she was one of nine people who attended the 2018 meeting of the 10th Committee of United Front Work Department organisation, the All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese as British Overseas Chinese representatives.[32] He currently lives in London and the North East of England.
Michael Bates was born in Gateshead in 1961 and educated at Heathfield Senior High School and Gateshead College. He is also a graduate of the Said Business School, University of Oxford (MBA,98). He served as Member of Parliament for the Langbaurgh parliamentary constituency (now Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland) from 1992 to 1997. Between 1994 and 1997 he held a number of ministerial posts including Government Whip, Sponsor Minister for the North East of England and HM Paymaster General. Between 1998 and 2005 he was Director of Research & Consultancy for Oxford Analytica a firm which provides analysis of global economic, business and political trends. He was appointed as a Member of the House of Lords in May 2008. He served as Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party from 2006—2010 holding a number of shadow ministerial roles between 2008—2010 including: Energy & Climate Change, Cabinet Office and Children, Schools and Families. He has been an appointed member of the House of Lords since 2008.
Lord Bates, according to the Sunday Sun, met his future bride after being invited by fellow member of the House of Lords David Alton to a dinner for the Speaker of the North Korean Parliament.
Lord Bates, who has a long-standing interest in North Korea, added: “David said: ‘why don’t you come along? The lady who is hosting it is very supportive of a lot of charitable causes.
“We had a very nice dinner. I talked about the Olympic Truce and my walk - and Xuelin immediately latched on it.
“She thought it was absolutely fantastic and offered support.”
And she came to his rescue soon after he began his walk. “I had a major crisis in that in my haste of packing, I packed half the wrong things and left at home half the right things,” said Lord Bates.
“So someone was going to have to come out to pick this stuff up that I didn’t need. And Xuelin volunteered. And in the midst of the tear gas of Athens, because there was a general strike going on at the time, love blossomed.” All together now – ah….
To mark their wedding, the couple launched a charitable foundation. Walk for Peace and you have to look at the logo and do your research..
Lord Bates was Minister of State at the Department for International Development between October 2016 and July 2019.
The Department for International Development (DFID) leads the UK’s work to end extreme poverty. We are tackling the global challenges of our time including poverty and disease, mass migration, insecurity and conflict. Our work is building a safer, healthier, more prosperous world for people in developing countries and in the UK too. The UK aid logo is often used to publicly acknowledge DFID's development programmes are funded by UK taxpayers.
DFID's main programme areas of work are Education, Health, Social Services, Water Supply and Sanitation, Government and Civil Society, Economic Sector (including Infrastructure, Production Sectors and Developing Planning), Environment Protection, Research, and Humanitarian Assistance.
Cross Government Fund
Policy paper
Global Trade Programme
This Prosperity Fund programme provides technical help towards free trade and open markets in Overseas Development Assistance eligible Middle-Income Countries.
Published 19 December 2019
Parliament went on their holidays the day after…