24-PPR-1992 16:57
JAMES LEE
P.04
TRANSCRIPT B
MR.
CHRIS FATTEN
PC
LONDON
-
24 APRIL 1992
3
done as
my own first visit and I greatly respect his intellect, his knowledge of Hong Kong and China and the remarkable work he has
an official of the Foreign Office, as a distinguished
academic and latterly as Governor and I would want to build on the
work which he and his predecessors have done but I think to risk repeating myself, that it would be unwise of me to start sketching out my precise priorities before the sun has set on the day of my
appointment.
QUESTION (CHANNEL 4 NEWS):
You are known as a politician with a wry sense of humour and now
here you are under the wet blanket, so to speak, of the Foreign
Office. How, for example, are you going to treat reports of your
political suicide?
MR. PATTEN:
I am not sure whether if I had asked that question, you would have
regarded it as being an indication of my wry sense of humour or
would have thought that a lot of midnight oil had gone into the
question!
I am privileged once again to be working in a relationship to many
colleagues that I have known in the Foreign Office for many years.
I first worked for Douglas Hurd when he was Secretary of State in
Northern Ireland and I was a junior Minister. I, of course,
worked closely with the Prime Minister for a number of years. We
came into the House of Commons at the same time and he is a great