TNAG-2455-FCO40-3576-Future-of-Hong-Kong-constitutional-development-presentation-1992 — Page 180

CONFIDENTIAL

-

David Howell, Lord Howe, Sir Charles Powell, Paddy Ashdown, Sir David Steel, Dr Cunningham and Allan Rodgers: telephone calls from the Secretary of State or Mr Goodlad.

(ii) A much wider range of MPs and Peers will need to receive briefing on the morning of 7 October. We propose that this should be in the form of a "Dear Colleague" letter from the Secretary of State summarising the bull points, and if possible enclosing a copy of the passage from the Governor's speech dealing with constitutional issues (HKG are investigating having this printed as a separate booklet). These Dear Colleague letters would need to be posted on 6 October to reach recipients on the morning of 7 October. Bearing in mind that some Conservative Members will be at the Party Conference, the Special Advisers will have plenty of spare copies of the letter there for local distribution. Recipients should include members of the FAC; office holders of the British Hong Kong Parliamentary Group; and other MPs and Peers interested in Hong Kong. Details are on the

attached list produced by the Hong Kong Government Office.

(iii) Briefing on similar lines for all members of the British Hong Kong Parliamentary Group. These run to more than 100. Mr Yaxley proposes to cover these with a letter from himself.

(iv) A one-page briefing note giving the essential selling points, to be available in Brighton, in Conservative Central Office and in the Whips Office.

Media

4.

The Governor will be doing a good deal of British as well as Hong Kong media on 7 October. He is also planning to have an op-ed piece in the Times that day (this will be drafted in Hong Kong). We propose the following Ministerial action:

Statements by the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State if possible to camera during the morning of 7 October, to provide sound bites for the lunchtime media;

A briefing by the Secretary of State of foreign correspondents and leader writers in two groups: one in Brighton on 7 October and one in London on 9 October. A main aim of the latter would be to influence the Sunday newspapers.

5.

In addition to that, we propose:

A briefing by News Department of diplomatic correspondents on 7 October;

gov.speech.gen.bern

CONFIDENTIAL

Page 180Page 181