But he had one supreme advantage – the loyal backing of John Major, the prime minister, and Douglas Hurd, the foreign secretary, back in London. Percy Cradock, former ambassador to Beijing and described as “working actively to scupper what we are trying to do”, is the chief villain of the piece. For anyone who has a special interest, ties to and direct experience of HK as I have been lucky to have, this book is a must read. This takes the form of a passionate polemical essay, written as a postscript to the diaries, about China’s increasingly brutal sabotage of the Hong Kong deals.

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.Strained relations extended even to his more natural political allies, the Hong Kong democrats led by Martin Lee. This takes the form of a passionate polemical essay, written as a postscript to the diaries, about China's increasingly brutal sabotage of the Hong Kong deals. 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 .

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. When MP for Bath (1979-92) he served as Minister for Overseas Development, Secretary of State for the Environment and Chairman of the Conservative Party. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice.

Indeed, knowing the place - either having visited or lived there - is also required to really enjoy it.