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CONFIDENTIAL
Written to HESA
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HKD 08/1
Mr Morris
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Mr Burns
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FROM: P F Ricketts, HKD DATE: 15 April 1992 cc: Sir J Coles
Mr Cox
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34
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ARRANGEMENTS FOR A GOVERNOR DESIGNATE
1.
Ta5 16/10
It may not be too soon to start thinking about initial arrangements for a Governor Designate. The following points occur immediately to me: any thoughts gratefully received.
Logistic Arrangements
2.
I believe that we should take charge ourselves of the Governor Designate in his first weeks. He will obviously need close dealings with the Hong Kong Government Office in London. But I think he should make his base in the FCO and look to us for support staff.
3.
I propose that we should base him in Room WH222 (close to Sir John Coles' office). I would make available a DS5 from the Department to act as a temporary Private Secretary. The Governor Designate will be inundated with letters, messages, requests for appointments, etc and will need an office staff straight away. We will need to bid for a temporary PA: HKD can provide registry services.
Issues
4. The most immediate question will be dealing with the intense press interest. The first few days will be a crucial opportunity for the Governor Designate to establish himself in the eyes of Hong Kong opinion. I think that this should be his first priority. He will obviously want to take account of UK press interest, and bear in mind the Chinese dimension. But his top priority should be to get off on the right foot with Hong Kong and show that he intends to defend their interests. This suggests that briefing and discussion in the early days should focus on broad questions of the style and tone which the new Governor will set. We will want to consult Ministers about the tone which the Governor should strike.
5. Another issue for early discussion will be the new Governor's relationship with Whitehall and the related question of support staff. We will want to get our views registered on this before the Hong Kong Government descend on
him.
6.
In a second phase, we will need to move on to discuss more detailed issues. I would not envisage inundating the Governor Designate with paper in the first few days. We have
PATAHS
CONFIDENTIAL
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