'Christopher Francis Patten, Baron Patten of Barnes',
CH,
PC (born
12 May 1944 in
Bath,
Somerset) is a prominent British Conservative
politician and a Patron of the
Tory Reform Group.
He was a
Member of Parliament, eventually rising to a cabinet minister and party chairman. In the latter capacity, he orchestrated the Conservatives' unexpected fourth consecutive electoral victory in 1992, but lost his own seat in the House of Commons.
He then accepted the post of last Commander in Chief and British
Governor of Hong Kong. After Hong Kong's handover to the
People's Republic of China, Patten became the
European Commissioner for foreign relations. After leaving that post, he returned to the UK and was raised to the
Peerage. He is the
Chancellor of
Newcastle University and the
University of Oxford.
Early career
A
Roman Catholic of at least partial Irish extraction, Patten was educated at
St Benedict's School at
Ealing Abbey, and at
Balliol College, Oxford. He worked in the
Conservative Party from 1966, first as desk officer and then director (from 1974 to 1979) of the
Conservative Research Department.
Patten was a
Member of Parliament from
1979 to
1992, serving as
Minister for Overseas Development at the
Foreign and Commonwealth Office from
1986 to
1989. In 1989 he was appointed to the Cabinet as
Secretary of State for the Environment and became responsible for the unpopular
Poll Tax. Though he robustly defended the policy at the time, in his 2006 book ''
Not Quite the Diplomat'' (published in the United States as ''Cousins and Strangers: America, Britain and Europe in the New Century'') he claims to have thought it was a mistake on
Margaret Thatcher's part.
In 1990,
John Major made Patten
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and
Chairman of the Conservative Party, with responsibility for organising the coming general election campaign. As party chairman, he was widely considered to be the main architect of the somewhat unexpected
Conservative victory in the 1992 election. However, he lost his seat for
Bath to the
Liberal Democrat candidate,
Don Foster, in
1992. Patten's defeat was attributed to several factors; the Poll Tax that he implemented which was especially unpopular in his constituency, and his duties as party chairman that prevented him from much local campaigning.
Governor of Hong Kong
Had Patten been re-elected in 1992, he might have been rewarded by appointment as Foreign Secretary, although in his autobiography
John Major said that he would have made Patten
Chancellor of the Exchequer. However, in the three weeks leading up to the election, many party insiders sensed that Patten would not have been able to retain his seat, and Major was considering a patronage appointment.
In the event, in July
1992, he became the 28th and last
Governor of
Hong Kong until its handover to the
People's Republic of China on
30 June 1997. He was given an official
Chinese name, Pang Ting Hong/Peng Dingkang (彭定康), for his governorship, before which he was known in Hong Kong as "Pak Tang" (柏藤). Unlike most previous Hong Kong Governors, he was not a career bureaucrat from the UK Foreign Office but a politician. However, he was not the first politician to become a Governor of Hong Kong. That honour goes to
John Bowring (''Governor of Hong Kong 1854–1859'') and
John Pope Hennessy (''Governor of Hong Kong 1877-1882''), who was a Conservative MP before he entered Colonial Service.
Patten's tenure faced several different challenges, as many in Hong Kong were still reeling from the Tianamen Square Massacre a few years earlier, while some were suspicious that the British would sell them out. He took steps to get touch with the people of the colony, often taking public strolls. People in Hong Kong affectionately nicknamed him 'Fat Pang' or 'Fei Peng' (肥彭), making him the first and only governor to have a Chinese nickname.
Patten's most controversial actions related to the election of the Hong Kong Legislative Council. Legco members returned in 1995 were originally to serve beyond the handover, thereby providing institutional continuity across the reversion of Hong Kong to the
People's Republic of China. Beijing had expected that the use of
functional constituencies with limited electorates would be used to elect this council, however Patten extended the definition of
functional constituencies and thus virtually every Hong Kong subject was able to vote for the so-called indirectly elected members (see
Politics of Hong Kong) of the Legislative Council.
His measure was not surprisingly strongly objected to by the pro-
Beijing political parties of Hong Kong, who suffered from the electoral changes, and he was criticized by the PRC government as an 'historic criminal/eternal sinner/sinner condemned for a thousand generations' (千古罪人). The legislative council which was elected under Patten's governorship was dissolved upon the handover of Hong Kong to the PRC and replaced by a Provisional Legislative Council which functioned until elections were held under the previous rules in 1998.
However, Patten's institutional reform gained unprecedented support in Hong Kong and the criticism from the PRC government raised his popularity to a level he never enjoyed in the UK; he was widely seen as standing up for the colony's rights. Not withstanding the electoral controversy, even some of his critics admired his eloquency and praised his efforts to raise the level of debate in the colony. Ending up, the PRC did bow to pressure and after the handover, a increasing portion of seats in the Legco would be directly elected.
He left Hong Kong on
1 July 1997 after the handover, together with
The Prince of Wales, on board
HM Yacht ''Britannia''.
Elder statesman
In 1998,
Queen Elizabeth II appointed him a
Companion of Honour. From
1998 to
1999, he chaired the
Independent Commission on Policing for Northern Ireland, better known as the ''Patten Commission'', which had been established in 1998 as part of the
Belfast Agreement. On
9 September 1999, the Commission produced its report, entitled ''A New Beginning: Policing in Northern Ireland'' but popularly known as the ''Patten Report'', which contained
175 symbolic and practical recommendations. This report led to the re-naming of the
Royal Ulster Constabulary as the
Police Service of Northern Ireland. He is also the co-chair of
International Crisis Group, overseeing many international operations.
European Commissioner
In
1999, he was appointed as one of the United Kingdom's two members to the
European Commission as
Commissioner for External Relations where he was responsible for the Union's development and cooperation programmes, as well as liaison with
Javier Solana, the
High Representative of the CFSP. He held this position within the
Prodi Commission from 23 January 2000 until 22 November 2004. Patten oversaw many crises in the area of
European foreign policy, most notably the failure of the European Union to come up with a common unified policy before the
Iraq war in 2003. Although nominated for the post of
President in the next Commission in
2004, he was unable to gain support from
France and
Germany. Once an unwelcome figure in the
People's Republic of China, he was warmly greeted by Chinese officials as a representative of the
European Union. (Patten 2006:278)
University roles and elevation to the Peerage
Patten was appointed Chancellor of
Newcastle University in 1999, and elected
Chancellor of the
University of Oxford in 2003. In
2005 he was raised to the
Peerage as 'Baron Patten of
Barnes', in the
London Borough of Richmond. In September 2005 he was elected a Distinguished Honorary Fellow of
Massey College in the
University of Toronto (the only person so elected except for the Chancellor of the
University of Cambridge, the
Duke of Edinburgh) as well as receiving an honorary Doctorate of Sacred Letters from the
University of Trinity College,
Toronto.
Lord Patten of Barnes in ceremonial dress as the Chancellor of the University of Oxford
Personal life
Lord Patten of Barnes is married to
Lavender, who is a
barrister. They have three daughters — Kate, Laura, and
Alice Patten; and two
Norfolk terriers — Whisky and Soda.
On
29 September 2005, he published his memoirs, ''
Not Quite the Diplomat: Home Truths About World Affairs''.
Legacy
Tai Cheong Bakery (泰昌餅家) have eggs tarts named in his honour - "Fei-Paang egg tarts" (肥彭蛋撻)
Books
★
The Tory Case, Chris Patten, , , Longman Higher Education, 1983, ISBN 0-582-29612-9
★
East and West : The Last Governor of Hong Kong on Power Freedom and the Future, Chris Patten, , , Pan Macmillan, 1998, ISBN 0-333-74787-2
★
Not Quite the Diplomat: Home Truths About World Affairs, Chris Patten, , , Allen Lane, 2005, ISBN 0-7139-9855-5
★
Cousins and Strangers: America, Britain, and Europe in a New Century, Chris Patten, , , Times Books, 2006, ISBN 0-8050-7788-X
Reference
★
The Last Governor, Jonathan Dimbleby, , , , 1997, ISBN 0-316-18583-3
★
Not Quite the Diplomat: Home Truths About World Affairs, Chris Patten, , , Allen Lane, 2005, ISBN 0-7139-9855-5
External links
★
The Chris Patten Archive – This website aims to archive all articles, speeches and material by or about Chris Patten.
★
Chris Patten's profile on BBC News website
★
Carnegie Council discussion on, ''Cousins and Strangers: America, Britain, and Europe in a New Century'' [http://www.cceia.org/resources/audio/data/000021
Audio [http://www.cceia.org/resources/video/data/000002
Video
★
Chris Patten: Reflections on Hong Kong
★
European Commissioner
★
Patten Gets Peerage (BBC News Article)
★
Still looking for trouble at (nearly) 60 —
Jackie Ashley talks to Chris Patten
★
chinadialogue
★
The London Speaker Bureau
Offices held
العربية
中国
Français
Deutsch
Ελληνική
हिन्दी
Italiano
日本語
Português
Русский
Español
