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4. I repeated to him the arguments against the premature
release in Hong Kong of the eleven news workers.
The only
point which he made a serious effort to contest was the
immediate effect on public confidence in Hong Kong. I
replied that we regarded this as a much less telling objection
than the long term effects.
5.
Without going into details I explained that we had
grounds for hoping that all eleven news workers would now be
released by September, and that this therefore should be the
terminal date for Mr. Grey's ordeal.
6.
He explained the difficulties he had been having among
journalists in Fleet Street in getting them to behave
reasonably and calmly about the affair but commented that he
thought on the whole Mr. Grey's colleagues in the press have
taken a pretty balanced view of the situation.
7. He said that he himself would now be away out of the
country until about 28 March. In the meantime I could if
necessary be in touch with Mr. Horton who had his complete
confidence. He did not propose at this stage, however, to
inform Mr. Horton about our covert probe. When he got back
from his tour, he would welcome the opportunity to discuss the
problem with the Secretary of State.
James Murray
3 March, 1969.
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