Reference
Tel.
ī
Mr Crowson
Miss Kell
ん
ツナ
166
MR BLAKER'S PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION DOWN FOR ORAL REPLY ON 23 OCTOBER
1. I have spoken to Mr Howell about this. He will try and get in touch with Mr Blaker to see if, in all the circumstances, he wishes to withdraw the question. I told Mr Howell that in my view if Mr Blaker wanted advice he should say that the Secretary of State would be making a statement on his return from Peking and Hong Kong early in November and that there would be an opportunity then for Mr Blaker to ask any supplementary questions he might have in mind. Mr Howell agreed that this made sense. He thought, however, that there was just a possibility that Mr Blaker might wish to press some particular point on the Secretary of State before he left London for China.
I
2. Mr Howell hopes to be able to give us an answer within about 2 days. If Mr Blaker insists on keeping his question down for answer on 23 October I think the answer should be simple "As announced on shall be visiting Hong Kong on 2/3 November on my way back from Peking". If we cannot get any indication from Mr Blaker of what he has in mind by way of supplementary question we shall, I think, have to give the Secretary of State (or Mr Royle who may answer on behalf of the Secretary of State) a full brief on the lines of that prepared for the Secretary of State when he answered a similar question on his return from Hong Kong last February.
3. Is there any need to ask Hong Kong for their views on any specific point? Can we not simply explain what has happened and set out the list of subjects on which we propose to brief the Secretary of State. This would leave it open for Hong Kong to reply if they thought they had anything useful to say.
11 October 1972
EMana
Гал
E O Laird
Hong Kong & Indian Ocean Department
Spoken to
Th. Howell
1311122.
на will
ра
check
bach
16/17 October.
Prikl
DD 897152 154596 500M 2/72 GM 3643/2