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4.
Legal Advisers in the FCO have said that "they would be bound to advise the Secretary of State that he must direct his mind only to the relevant circumstances and not to irrelevant circumstances such as pressure manifested in the House of Commons or in the media". It is possible that the Attorney-General, on the advice of the Law Officers or the Lord Chancellor, might revert to this point. In paragraph 5 of the paper which the Secretary of State put to GEN 103 (GEN 103(78)1 of 9 February), the Secretary of State made it clear that his motives for proposing that the Creech-Jones doctrine be abrogated were that the Secretary of State would be able to consider all the relevant circumstances in
each particular case. In discussion with his ministerial colleagues at the meeting of GEN 103 on 16 February, the Secretary of State made it clear to his colleagues that he or his successors might, in very serious cases, consider it necessary not to recommend a reprieve because of possible local consequences of doing so. Therefore, any possible objection by the Law Officers that the present proposal is an attempt to abolish capital punishment in the DOTS by executive action would not be valid, as each case referred to the Secretary of State would be considered by him on
its merits.
5.
In his minute the Prime Minister said that the present procedure protects the Secretary of State and drew attention to possible problems for the Secretary of State with regard to Hong Kong. In practice, since 1973 the Governor of Hong Kong has managed to persuade his Executive Council to agree, however reluctantly, that each case of capital punishment brought before it, in its role of Prerogative of Mercy Committee, should be commuted in favour of a sentence of life imprisonment. The Governor of Hong Kong has been told of the Secretary of State's intention that the line should be held in Hong Kong and there we are confident that the Governor will be able to continue to commute in Hong Kong and to avoid reference of capital cases to London. If this question does arise, I recommend that the
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