In a letter in July to Prime Minister David Cameron, revealed by Channel 4's "Dispatches" programme, the pair expressed their "concern and annoyance with regard to the inflexible instruction given last week to ministers, prohibiting any contact whatsoever with the Dalai Lama during his visit to the UK". They said a note from the Foreign Office warning of the sensitivities surrounding Tibet and China did not justify a "blanket prohibition on a minister meeting a religious leader in private in a non-ministerial capacity, and we think this crossed a line".
"The note is tantamount to saying that British foreign policy on Tibet is whatever China wants it to be," they wrote. "It completely ignores the fact that His Holiness is a spiritual leader only, and no longer holds a political position, and is frankly just plain wrong." They said they were put under "tremendous pressure" not to attend the lunch from Cameron's aides and a Foreign Office minister who called at the last minute.
During an earlier visit to Britain in May to receive a prize, the Dalai Lama held private talks with Cameron and his deputy, Nick Clegg. Although Britain views Tibet as part of China, the meeting sparked an official protest from Beijing, which views the 77-year-old Buddhist as a dangerous separatist. Cameron's official spokesman on Monday denied that ministers were banned from meeting the Tibetan spiritual leader. "Ministers are not banned from meeting the Dalai Lama," he told reporters.