Telephone: 01-940 9214
RECIEVED IN
REGISTRY No. 51 2 & AUG1/73
Mr Andrew Stuart
Hongkong Section
1KK 14/17
Foreign and Commonwealth Office London S.W.1.
Dear Mr Stuart
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1+8
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Richmond Surrey.
20 Bishops Close Ham Common
20 August 1973
Miss Kelly
Hen Pla
PHIL
24/
see
Thank you for telephoning me earlier this evening aft my call to Mr L.Davis.
As you know, I had prepared an intended article the principal points of which were that public protests at the Godber affair in Hongkong were reaching a point where the peaceful activities of the Hongkong Federation of Students and various left-wing organisations might at any moment escalate into civil disturences because the British Government had not been publicly seen to be acting to secure Godber's return, and that I believed the Queen or Privy Council might hold some prerogative power by which Godber might be returned.
After our long discussion I decided that, in view of the fact that the FCO appeared to be more actively engaged in seeking some means to secure Godber's return than I had believed it to be engaged in, any publicity I might secure could possibly jeopardise any solution you might come up with. I have therefore not submitted my intended article.
I firmly believe, on the basis of press reports from Hongkong newspapers and knowing the circumstances of Hongkong, that unless the FCO comes up with a solution soon there may be quite peaceful demonstrations which could develop into civil disturbances, all hinged on Godber. It is my opinion that the FCO may have days rather than weeks during which to find a solution and avoid possible disturbances.
Apart from my thought of a Proclamation or Order in Council I can only suggest one more possibility. The FCO might approach Godber with an offer of immunity from prosecution, allowing him to keep his loot if he turns Queen's Evidence and bubbles on corrupt former colleagues. Such evidence as he might give, however, I am sure you will realise would have to be regarded with extreme caution. Or, you might be able to liase with a gutter press national Sunday newspaper and persuade them to offer him such a sum for his memoirs that he might be tempted to over-reach
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