Chris Patten

Rt Hon. Lord Patten of Barnes CH is currently Chancellor of Oxford University. As a British MP (1979-92) he served as Minister for Overseas Development, Secretary of State for the Environment and Chairman of the Conservative Party, being described afterwards as 'the best Tory Prime Minister we never had' (Observer). He is well known for being the last Governor of Hong Kong (1992-7), about which he wrote in East and West (1998). Both that and his subsequent, Not Quite the Diplomat: Home Truths about World Affairs (2005), were No. 1 international bestsellers. In 2008 he wrote What Next? Surviving the Twenty-First Century, and then First Confession: A Sort of Memoir in 2018. He was made a Companion of Honour in 1998 and a life peer in 2005.

Latest Publication THE HONG KING DIARIES - Allen Lane - June 2022

A Sunday Times bestseller

In June 1992 Chris Patten went to Hong Kong as the last British governor, to try to prepare it not - as other British colonies over the decades - for independence, but for handing back in 1997 to the Chinese, from whom most of its territory had been leased 99 years previously. Over the next five years he kept this diary, which describes in detail how Hong Kong was run as a British colony and what happened as the handover approached.

The diaries give unprecedented insights into negotiating with the Chinese, about how the institutions of democracy in Hong Kong were (belatedly) strengthened and how Patten sought to ensure that a strong degree of self-government would continue after 1997. Unexpectedly, his opponents included not only the Chinese themselves, but some British businessmen and civil service mandarins upset by Patten's efforts, for whom political freedom and the rule of law in Hong Kong seemed less important than keeping on the right side of Beijing.

Published on the 25th anniversary of the handover, the book concludes with an account of what has happened in Hong Kong since the handover, a powerful assessment of recent events and Patten's reflections on how to deal with China - then and now.

'Hong Kong was an important part of my public life, perhaps the most important part of it. I think what happens there will be crucial for all of us over the next few years. We have to go on caring about Hong Kong, speaking up for Hong Kong, making clear that we share the values for which Hong Kong citizens are courageously fighting. As we know from what has happened in Hong Kong, we cannot take the survival of those values for granted. Hong Kong's fight for freedom, for individual liberty and decency, is our fight as well.' Chris Patten

Praise for THE HONG KING DIARIES

'Twenty-five years on, with the global order turning more nationalist and inward, the diaries are a witness that it was Patten who called the outcome more accurately and more honourably than they did.' Martin Kettle, Guardian

'A momentous record of the end of the British Empire … A terrific tale, one that will appeal not just to Sinologists but to all historians, since it is effectively a record of the end-days of an Empire.  Patten’s sense of humour shines through every day, and he needs it.  His chatty style makes the diary an easy read, in spite of its length.' Simon Murray, Telegraph

'A skilled descriptive writer, Patten captures his own Hong Kong — the splendour, the hustle, the deference and treachery; plus interludes for tennis, church-going and the joys of sacred music.' Michael Sheridan, Sunday Times

‘The author’s entertaining language brings these diaries to life. They were clearly written (or dictated) for a wide audience as well as his close circle. The escapades of his Norfolk terriers, Whisky and Soda, are as keenly observed as the machinations of his critics.’ The Economist

‘Wonderfully waspish, fascinating and rude in spades about all the people who deserve nothing less.’ Stephen Vines, Literary Review

'As an insider’s account, The Hong Kong Diaries is filled with that daily sense of grappling with a multi-headed hydra … There is an inescapable poignancy to reading this diary in 2022; it is a snapshot of a unique moment at the end of empire, and a now fading picture of an extraordinary society that flourished in its brief moment of freedom.' Isabel Hilton, Times Literary Supplement

'The Hong Kong Diaries is a satisfying, nostalgic read. Hongkongers who want to learn more about local history and how the city has evolved should read Patten’s insight into Hong Kong’s historical transition during the handover.' South China Morning Post Young Reporters