David Cameron flew to China last night but left his official photographer in London amid the growing dispute over the employment of so-called "vanity staff" as Whitehall officials.
The Prime Minister is beginning a two-day trip to China, during which he will come under pressure to raise the issue of the jailed dissident who recently won the Nobel Peace Prize.
Mr Cameron is travelling with dozens of business leaders, including many who publicly backed Conservative tax policies, on his first visit to the emerging superpower.
Before boarding the plane, he claimed that relations between the two countries were "strong enough" to be able to talk frankly about human rights issues.
But last night the visit was at risk of being dogged by the issue of the Coalition's growing employment of part-time officials, many of whom were formerly political aides.
Last week, Mr Cameron was mocked for putting Andrew Parsons, his official photographer, on the civil service payroll. Last night, the Cabinet Office admitted that Nick Clegg had also recruited two of his former party aides as civil servants.
Tim Snowball, formerly Mr Clegg's campaign tour organiser who had a prominent role during the election campaign, has been given a job in his private office. Mr Clegg's former deputy speechwriter, Zena Elmahrouki, has also been given a job in the Cabinet Office as a speech-writer.
Read more at The Telegraph
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