This interview may not turn out to be as straight forward as it at first seems. It will presumably be directed at British forces
serving overseas. 3(a) presents no difficulty Mr Atkins will be able to explain that (a) he is in effect the Deputy Foreign Secretary and (b) a Prime Minister has certain old court appointments, of which Lord Privy Seal is the senior, which have only residual departmental responsibilities and are therefore available to reinforce the Ministerial team in any particular Department. As regards the visit to China and Hong Kong, the BFBS UK will presumably want to know not so much about the future of Hong Kong per se as about the future of the British Armed Forces in Hong Kong. HKGD and the Ministry of Defence will wish to consider a form of
words to cope with this question. As regards Northern Ireland, Mr Atkins will no doubt want to pay tribute to the record of British troops in Ulster but will not wish to intrude on the area of responsibility of his successor as Secretary of State for
Northern Ireland.
1 February 1982
westbrook
Roger Westbrook News Department