CONFIDENTIAL
letter to Mr Martin Lee, defending the Government's handling of the review of representative government;
(a) Provision of Written Material to Backbenchers
I have discussed this with Mr Houston, and am putting together material which can be used in the preparation of briefing material
for Government backbenchers.
A
3. Ministers will in addition wish to consider action in the
following areas:
(a) Contact with The Opposition
I have already drawn attention to Hong Kong telno 146, which records
Mr Foulkes as suggesting to the Governor that Mr Kaufman will wish
to talk to the Secretary of State before the debate.
(b)
Contact with Backbenchers
A further possibility is some form of informal background briefing
for interested backbenchers. This could be directed either towards
Conservative backbenchers alone, or towards members of the All-Party
Parliamentary Group. I suggest that the latter might be more
appropriate: it is the Opposition backbenchers who are a major
unknown factor. This briefing might take the form of informal
drinks given either by the Secretary of State, if his programme permits, or another Minister. Again Ministers will wish to consider
the advantages of this against the risk that it could look like
panic or overkill;
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CONFIDENTIAL