Q:
A:
Q:
You've heard a lot of people already talking about the
question of access. The sense of this is that somehow Chris Patten will have a more rapid and more immediate way of communicating with and maybe getting action from
the British Government than his predecessor could
possibly have done. Is that perhaps overstating the
case. Are they wrong to have that hope?
Well obviously they are 2 people of completely different
backgrounds. David Wilson has done an excellent job. I think particularly in these last months he has been increasingly recognised in Hong Kong and when he leaves
Hong Kong he will go with great affection and respect
from people there as from people like myself who've
dealt with him from this end. Chris Patten is, as I've
said, one of the 4 or 5 top people in the political life
of this country. He knows everybody, he knows the Prime
Minister and myself extremely well, so he does.
lift up a telephone or come to us in whatever way he
wants in a different kind of way of course, that is
quite right. And I believe that that is what is going
to be needed in Hong Kong over these next years.
He can
The final point of course is that it looks as though this appointment will mean Chris Patten not taking no part in the next General Election since the handover
comes after that election must have taken place.
that the case?
Is
A:
Well he obviously had to think very long because this is
a commitment as he's made clear already. This is a
commitment until 1997, not at all an easy decision to
take for somebody of his age and with his record and his prospects but Chris has a very strong sense of service to the public. This is one of the key positions under
the Crown in this decade. I am delighted that on
reflection he has decided to take it.