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B
C
D
finalised within the next few days.
4.
The Governor wrote to the Secretary of State on 13 October
pressing for an early and satisfactory resolution of this issue and making it clear, for the benefit of the Treasury,
that he regards this as a matter of honour. The Secretary of
State replied that political decisions are now needed to
resolve this issue once and for all. The Governor has now said
(HK Telno 2612) that he wishes to use his visit to London, from 15 November, "to bring this long drawn out saga to an
overdue conclusion".
5. One option would be to arrange a meeting between the
Secretary of State, Mr Portillo and the Governor during the latter's visit (as he suggests in his latest telegram). But we are unlikely to reach final agreement at such a meeting.
If we are to use Mr Patten's return to bring matters to a
head, it would be best to have a first round between the
Secretary of State and Mr Portillo beforehand, in order to flush out the Treasury position on the officials' paper. We would then have the option of adding HMOCS to the agenda for the OPD (K) meeting on 18 November and pressing for a political
decision there.
[10-and
We understand that, at present, there are gaps in the
Secretary of State's diary only on 10-and 13 November. In order for there to be time to circulate papers to OPD (K) his meeting with Mr Portillo should ideally be on 10 November.
have asked the Treasury at official level to look at
Mr Portillo's availability, and understand that his Private
Secretary will be in touch with Private Office direct to discuss timing.
Than
We
6.
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min.arrange.HMOCS
JEB
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PF Ricketts