Boris Johnson’s Father Halts Xinjiang Trip After Covid Lockdown

Stanley Johnson, the father of the UK’s outgoing prime minister, has left China after being caught in a Covid lockdown that spoiled his plans to shoot a travel film in Xinjiang, where London has accused Beijing of widespread rights abuses.

The former Conservative member of the European Parliament, who has pushed for closer ties between the UK and China, was in quarantine in the megacity of Chengdu when it went into lockdown last week. His youngest child, Max, who studied for an MBA at Beijing’s prestigious Tsinghua University and had been due to accompany his father to Xinjiang, told Bloomberg News that Johnson had “left for the UK.”