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FUTURE OF HONG KONG: APPOINTMENT OF MONTIORS
PROPOSED NOTES FOR SUPPLEMENTARIES:
WHY SIR P NAIRNE?
1.
He is
as He has had a highly distinguished career a public servant.
a member of the Privy Council, a body of eminent persons with the formal duty of advising the sovereign. This is an exceptional distinction for a former civil servant. He has wide experience of Government and of constitutional practice, derived from work in a variety of Government Departments. This experience fits him to make a valuable and distinctive contribution to the work of the
monitoring team.
WHAT DOES HE KNOW ABOUT HONG KONG?
2. Sir P Nairne has visited Hong Kong on several occasions in the course of his career in the Public Service. But he has primarily been chosen for his wide experience of Government. It will be the Hong Kong member of the monitoring team, Mr Justice Li, who will provide the detailed local knowledge.
[NB: we do not propose to draw attention to the fact
that
Sir P Nairne's earlier contacts with Hong Kong derive largely from
work in the Ministry of Defence]
WHEN WILL HE START WORK?
WILL HE VISIT HONG KONG BEFORE THE TEST OF ACCEPTABILITY?
3.
We have said that the monitoring team is expected to start work about the end of September. It is envisaged that the team will
at
be in place a little in advance of the start of the test
of
acceptability.
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