SPEAKER: The Rt. Hon. CHISTOPHER PATTEN, C.H.

Former Governor of Hong Kong and European Commissioner

Mr Patten joined the Conservative Research Department in 1966. He was seconded to the Cabinet Office in 1970 and was personal assistant and political secretary to Lord Carrington and Lord Whitelaw when they were Chairmen of the Conservative party from 1972-1974. In 1974 he was appointed the youngest ever Director of the Conservative Research Department, a post which he held until 1979.

Mr Patten was elected as Member of Parliament for Bath from May 1979 until April 1992. In 1983 he wrote "The Tory Case", a study of Conservatism.

Following the General Election of June 1983, Mr Patten was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Northern Ireland Office and in September 1985 Minister of State at the Department of Education and Science. In September 1986 he was appointed Minister for Overseas Development at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office.

He was appointed to the Privy Council in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List, June 1989 and was appointed a Companion of Honour in the New Year’s Honours List l998.

In July 1989 Mr Patten was appointed Secretary of State for the Environment. In November 1990 he became Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Chairman of the Conservative Party.

Mr Patten was appointed Governor of Hong Kong in April 1992, and was there from July 1992 until the return of Hong Kong to China in 1997.

He was Chairman of the Independent Commission on Policing for Northern Ireland set up under the Good Friday Peace Agreement, it reported in 1999.
In September 1999 he was appointed European Commissioner for External Relations.
He is an Hon. Fellow of The Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh, an Hon. Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford and was appointed Chancellor of Newcastle University in 1999.