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Percy asked what would happen if he decided to go ahead with publication despite our views and whether there was scope for negotiation about amendments to the last two Chapters. I said that we were bound to consider legal means of prevention, although we would be very reluctant to take that path and had already concluded that our prospects of success were not good. But I argued that, whatever his own views, Percy had a duty to defer to those who now had responsibility and that for a Privy Councillor to defy the Government's view would be very damaging, both in itself and as a precedent. If he chose to defy us, there were suggestions we could make about ways in which the publication would be less damaging, but this would not meet the point and I hoped that matters would not come to this point.
Percy continued to show himself very reluctant to contemplate a postponement of his book, but floated the idea of a review towards the end of the year in the light of progress of the negotiations with the Chinese Government. He wondered aloud if it would be possible to make progress in the meantime with his publishers so as to leave open the possibility of publishing at the scheduled time if we withdrew our objections. John and I said that we thought that it would be sensible to review at the end of the year since the negotiations with China could not go on indefinitely, but we could not give an undertaking that we would be able to withdraw our objection at that time. We would therefore hope that Percy would not take action with his publisher which made it more difficult for him to retreat from publication if we had to request that. Percy made it clear that he was not offering a review at
at the end of the year, but he
he would consider it as one possibility.
We left matters on the footing that Percy would reflect on what we had said and would let us know his position. But he emphasised his reluctance to accept our request. I underlined the seriousness with which we were making the request to him, in the interests of avoiding any risk to the successful conclusion of negotiations of which he would be the first to recognise the importance.
I am copying this letter to John Coles.
Your
ever,
Robin
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