CONFIDENTIAL COVERING S E CRET
The Attorney General then argued that all categories of
our citizens are British nationals in international law and that as passports operate internationally the national status (i.e. British national) could be included in a passport in
Both FCO and Home Office addition to citizenship status.
lawyers conceded the validity of this argument, although they
saw possible legal complications e.g. because of the varying
uk/
definitions of British national in treaties and the consequent
difficulties over, any wording to express that status.
and administrative considerations would also need to be
taken into account..
Policy
1
8.
In view of the Prime Minister's visit to Hong Kong at the
end of September it is necessary for the Government to
decide on a clear policy on the issue. On 24 August the FCO
put Hong Kong's case to the Home Office, supporting it on the
grounds that an important objective of the visit will be to reassure public opinion in the territory that HMG's commit-
ment to the territory remains effective. To deny BDTCs the
status British national would be taken as a sign that we
were not acting in the spirit of that commitment.
9.
The Home Office rpely, on which Mr Whitelaw was consulted
on his return from leave, is wholly unreceptive to the points
made by the FCO on Hong Kong's behalf (a copy of the Home
Office's letter is attached) and fails even to mention the
legal view. From a nationality and immigration point of
view, the FCO would dissent from the Home Office arguments
only in their assumption that noone would want both the terms
'British citizen' and 'British national' appearing in their
/passports.
CONFIDENTIAL COVERING SECRET
B
A