An MP has been barred from entering Hong Kong to visit her own newborn grandson in a "heartless and totally unacceptable" crackdown by Chinese authorities.
Liberal Democrat MP Wera Hobhouse had flown to the former British Crown Colony on Thursday - but was held up and interrogated at airport security by immigration officers for five hours before being deported.
Hobhouse had her passport confiscated, was probed about her job and purpose of her trip, had her luggage searched and swabbed, and was then frogmarched to the boarding gate by authorities.
The Bath MP told The Times she was left "shocked" and "very close to tears" when she was refused entry - and said she had not even been able to hug her own son who was waiting for her in arrivals.
Hobhouse had her passport confiscated, was probed about her job and purpose of her trip, had her luggage searched and swabbed, and was then frogmarched to the boarding gate by authorities
PA
Her party leader Sir Ed Davey said: "Wera just wanted to visit her son in Hong Kong and meet her baby grandson for the first time.
"But after a 13-hour flight, the Chinese authorities turned her away - just because she's a British MP. So heartless. And totally unacceptable."