fil
CONFIDENTIAL
HICD
аблі
Mr Ricketts
JB
From:
Date:
CC:
PS/Mr Patten
9 June 1992
PS/Mr Goodlad
Sir J Coles
Mr Hum
Mr Davies, FED
Mr Wye, RAD
260
CALL ON MR PATTEN BY WILLIAM PURVES, CHAIRMAN, HONG KONG AND SHANGHAI BANK, 21 MAY.
1.
Mr Purves
Mr Patten asked what should be his priorities. said he should re-establish discipline in ExCo. At the moment meetings lasted three times longer than UK Cabinet meetings. It was known locally as "toy town". Getting things through LegCo had become a major difficulty. ExCo existed to give the Governor guidance on policy. It should not be a debating chamber; (the last ExCo meeting he had attended had lasted three hours for an agenda which should not have taken more than one hour).
2. Since the September 1991 elections, LegCo had assumed more power.
The administration was still working out how to cope with this. Instead of having the confidence to press on with what were good policies, there was questioning and criticism (not to mention leaks) from LegCo and lots of soul searching in the administration. Inconsequence this had slowed down and was not as precise or effective as it had been.
3. Business was uncomfortable about the 1995 elections. Most Chinese businessmen wanted to make money and were not interested in politics. The possibility of defeat in an election was not good for "face". Not many were likely to volunteer. The result would be second division candidates who might have difficulty getting elected. The irony was that business (and bankers) could get on with their counterparts in China and the business sector had built up trust with the PRC in a way that the Hong Kong Government and UK Diplomats had been unable to do.
4.
There were some discussion of HSBC's proposed takeover of Midland Bank. HSBC's lawyers had spent considerable time considering the institutional framework for the present bid, determined not to repeat the errors of the failed bid for Royal Bank of Scotland some years ago. Mr Purves was confident that with a new structure, and UK-based holding company, there should be no problems from the Office of Fair
/Trading
CONFIDENTIAL