1 A
phrase seems to demand the suffix ...as if
6. On 16 May 1986, during the debate on the Hong Kong (British
Nationality) Order 1986, Lord Glenarthur went further, saying in
respect of those who were not ethnically Chinese
"We should consider it an obligation upon any future
Government to treat with very considerable and particular
sympathy the case for admission to the United Kingdom of
any individual British national who, against all our
present expectations, came under pressure to leave Hong
Kong.
This assurance was apparently devised at short notice when it
appeared likely that the Order might be lost because of concern in
the Lords about the position of the ethnic minorities after 1997.
The form of words was cleared the day before the debate with the Opposition spokesman. Although taken in isolation these words could be taken to cover BN (0)s with Chinese nationality, it was again clear
from the context that the assurance was intended to relate to those
who were not ethnically Chinese.
7. A further modification to the wording was introduced in 1989,
when Mr Renton, a Home Office Minister, said, in giving evidence to
the Foreign Affairs Committee,
"if any solely British national with no claim on Chinese
nationality came under severe pressure to leave Hong Kong,
we would and I quote the words carefully expect the
Government of the day to consider the
sympathetically".
case
Ar Rawthorne's The words "solely British" appeared for the first time on this
occasion, and that formulation has been widely used since in
Ministerial correspondence, including in letters from
by Magic". This obscures
henry away 8.
le struggle that ethnic minorities.
H.O. were to wreathe the assurance
from the majamur
nd
mry to insist it
Baroness Thatcher when Prime Minister to those
to those representing the
only applied to the vity.
M
Morit
It was used most recently in the debate on the ethnic minorities