The Hong Kong Diaries

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Patten's diaries over the next five years describe in detail his day-to-day battles with the Chinese . Unlike most previous Hong Kong governors, he was not a career diplomat from the UK Foreign Office although he was not the first former MP to become a governor of Hong Kong.

After graduating with a second-class honours degree in 1965 and winning a William Coolidge Pathfinder Award [8] [9] [10] travelling scholarship to the US, [11] [12] [13] [14] Patten worked for the campaign of then-Republican New York Mayor John Lindsay, where he reported on the television performance of rival William F. Christopher Francis Patten, Baron Patten of Barnes, KG , CH , PC ( Chinese: 彭定康; [2] born 12 May 1944) is a British politician who was the 28th and last Governor of Hong Kong from 1992 to 1997 and Chairman of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1992. In 2020, he criticised the new Hong Kong national security law as an "outrageous act" and accused the Chinese Communist Party of seeking to "destroy" Hong Kong.He was Governor of Hong Kong from 1992 until 1997 and European Commissioner for External Relations from 1999 until 2004. It is valuable that his diary entries include views and analyses that were very different from his (some of which he vilified). A go-getter as he is, Chris Patten has wonderfully used broad strokes, painting the portraits of wide-ranging people and doubling down with his colourful depictions.

To me, these diaries reveal that it was the actions of the British in the 80s - through the signing of the Basic Law and Joint Declaration without any arbitration mechanism - that in effect enabled Hong Kong’s democratic demise, and that it was in spite of Patten’s best efforts that their freedoms only lasted a decade or so post-97. But the final chapter I found to be particularly interesting as Chris Patten gave his thoughts on the current situation in Hong Kong. You can see it in the language used by [former Hong Kong chief executive] Carrie Lam and now this terrible policeman who is her successor, John Lee.degree from the University of Ulster (2005), and in 2005 he was also honored with a life peerage as Baron Patten of Barnes, of Barnes in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, as a Roman Catholic he played a vital role overseeing the visit of Pope Benedict XVI's to the UK (2010), and served as Chairman of the BBC Trust (2011-2014).

After reading Modern History at Balliol College, Oxford and graduating in 1965, Patten joined the Conservative Party the following year. His diaries are full of extraordinarily sharp observations, witticisms, and self-deprecating humour. He was promoted to be a Minister of State in the Department of Education and Science in September 1985, and was named Minister for Overseas Development at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in September 1986. He was Governor of Hong Kong from 1992 until 1997, Chairman for the Independent Commission on Policing after the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 and European Commissioner for External Relations from 1999 until 2004. In Patten's diaries we see everyone from Mother Teresa to Margaret Thatcher passing through the governor's living room .Otherwise, they might have pushed for direct elections but Hong Kong would remain in peace, provided that there were no meddling attempts. But if it was difficult to convince them of that hope then, certainly after 2019 when Mr Lee’s police had been beating them over the head, tasering and teargassing them, it wasn’t going to be any easier.

Reading it, you can’t help but reflect on an essential loss of rigour in Britain’s dealings with the world; contrast the likes of Douglas Hurd and Malcolm Rifkind as foreign secretaries with the incumbent, Liz Truss.Patten documents how British negotiators often disclose large amounts of information during negotiations, and also often let the rivals know their intentions. Patten and his time in Hong Kong was the subject of the 5-part documentary series The Last Governor, which was filmed throughout his time in Hong Kong, including his arrival, key moments of his government such as the 1995 elections and his final day in office, ending as he departs Government House for the last time. Chinese culture also promotes specific forms of modesty and self-depreciation, and restricts radical deviations in social behavior and innovation.