because of the likely inhibiting effect on the discussions which
would have reduced the value of the meetings.
4.
The Secretary of State gave an interview to
Jonathan Dimbleby on 28 April and agreed that we should identify less sensitive meetings for filming. We arranged for the Dimbleby team to film a meeting of officials chaired by Christopher Hum on Friday 25 June. They discussed progress so far in the Peking talks and considered the way forward, without pre-empting the OPD (K) meeting. The team filmed also parts of the Communications Centre to record telegrams arriving at the FCO and being dispatched to Ministers and officials.
5.
The Dimbleby team would like also to film Ministers arriving
at No 10 for the OPD (K) meeting on Thursday 1 July and sitting
down at the start of the meeting (they know that it will not be
possible to film the meeting itself).
6. Except for the interview with the Secretary of State we have
not been able to offer the Dimbleby team any substantive Hong Kong policy filming facilities. They are now filming the officials' meeting on Friday 25 June. Although Dimbleby understands why we have turned down his requests to film
Ministerial policy discussion meetings in the past he will, almost certainly, renew his request whenever the Governor comes
to London. The Dimbleby team has filmed the Governor and his
immediate advisers discussing the outcome of earlier rounds of
the Peking talks in Hong Kong. Offering them the opportunity to
film Ministers' arrival at OPD (K) should go a long way to
satisfying their wish to get good footage of the London end of Hong Kong policy making and help to discourage them from further requests to film sensitive policy meetings.
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