TNAG-0527-FCO40-622-Visit-of-James-Callaghan--Secretary-of-State-for-Foreign-and-1975 — Page 23

CONFIDENTIAL

2

3.

ourselves had written, how best

to brief the Secretary of State.

I expressed the personal view that it would be better

not to try to brief the Secretary of State too soon before his

visit but to begin it not more than three or four weeks beforehand.

I am not sure whether Lord Goronwy-Roberts agrees with this view and

would naturally wish to be satisfied that he and I were in agreement

before we adopted a target date.

4.

I also told Sir M Maclehose that I considered it desirable

that, if possible, he and Mr Youde should come home during the pre-

visit briefing period so as to be available to advise the Secretary

of State. He agreed as far as Mr Youde was concerned but said that

he feared for him to return to London again so soon might cause

undesirable speculation in Hong Kong. I made it clear to him that

I found this view difficult to accept and that in any case the

considerations of giving the proper briefing to the Secretary of State

should be overriding. But we left it open, on the understanding that

we would look nearer the time to see whether some plausible peg could

be found on which to hang a London visit by the Governor, assuming that

we do indeed wish this to take place. Obviously we shall need to

reflect on this nearer the time. But my instinct is that both the

Governor and the Ambassador in Peking should be got back to help

prepare satisfactorily for what will be a very important visit.

5.

Finally, the Governor expressed his concern at the prospect

of import restrictions being adopted against Hong Kong products.

He

2

CONFIDENTIAL

/said