‘Hong Kong’s fight for freedom is ours as well’: Lord Patten hits out at Chinese leadership

Interview: As his diary from his time as Britain’s last governor in Hong Kong is published, Lord Patten tells Rory Sullivan its democracy movement is seen as an ‘existential threat’ by Beijing

Prince Charles (left) and Chris Patten (right) wave goodbye to Hong Kong on 30 June 1997 (PA)

A quarter of a century ago, the sun finally set on one of the British empire’s last holdouts. With pomp and ceremony, the UK returned Hong Kong, an imperial possession it had held for more than 150 years, to China.

The colonial administration bid its final farewell as Chris Patten, a former Tory minister who had served as Hong Kong’s last British governor, boarded the HMS Britannia on 30 June 1997.

“It was a wonderful city. Like a lot of the great port cities, very extrovert and spectacularly successful,” he says, reflecting on the place that was his home for five years. “I hugely admire the people of Hong Kong, who are incredibly gutsy and generous,” he adds.