From the Secretary of State
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London SW1A 2AH
9 September 1991
I have countered elsewhere Paul Johnson's main
argument about Hong Kong (September 8) and will not repeat why I think he is wrong. But he throws in as make-weight a number of other accusations:
that Foreign Office pressure decided the timing of the ceasefire in Iraq, that the Foreign Office under- estimated the importance of Boris Yeltsin and thought the Moscow coup was bound to succeed, that I volunteered a statement without being asked about NATO and Eastern Europe, and that I have refused to hear the Croatian point of view (ask President Tudjman!)
None of these accusations is true.
DOUGLAS HURD
Max Hastings Esq