DURING a recent radio interview, local Tory MP, Sir Tony Baldry explained one of the reasons why he had decided to enter a career in politics.

It seems while at university Sir Tony had encountered a number of Trotskyists and Marxists, and I expect along with many others, they suspected that a way of life they had become accustomed to would be lost to a tidal wave of communism.

Sir Tony has recently visited China.

You feared that Sir Tony would be overwhelmed and drown in a red sea of communism, without the buoyancy of a lifejacket of democracy. No. Sir Tony embraced the People’s republik.

Sir Tony, fellow Conservative colleagues George and Boris, have been waving the UK’s business flag in the ‘Land of the Setting Sun’ and dispelling any number of myths, also doing a splendid job of dodging those awkward questions fired by the media – human rights, pollution, fraud, slave labour.

China has taken huge economic strides forward, has many mouths to feed, but has created millions of new jobs for its citizens, all in a very short space of time.

George and Boris’ deals include China having a large stake and, I presume, say in the UK’s plant programme.

Sir Tony must be delighted at this outcome as he has long called for a review of the old arrangements. This will now encourage Chinese people to visit, in particular, “Bicester Village” he said.

I am sure the American businessman that owns the outlet will be pleased. It is ironic, the Chinese visitors pouring into the village, purchasing designer goods whose labels may well indicate that they were manufactured from where they had departed from.

I do not belong to the Communist party. Perhaps this may go some way to explaining the reluctance of Sir Tony, when I asked him to become involved and look into the closure of a community sports club, located in the second largest town within the constituency he was elected to represent.

ROGER WISE, The Glebe, Culham