Chinese whispers
HOPES that Hong Kong's last governor might find a cosy place on the board of the richest bank in Hong Kong or out of it can now be written off. He would not be con- sidered for the doorman's job in a sub- branch at Happy Valley. All this is an unintended by-product of Chris Patten's instant dimblebification. The Last Gover- nor finds its hero trying to swing a vote on his legislative council. He is vexed to be told that Sir William Purves, chairman of HSBC, the Hongkong Bank group, is try- ing to swing the vote the other way. Jonathan Dimbleby records the governor's explosion: 'That's Willie Purves, true to the last.' Mrs Patten, so he tells us, joined in: 'Bloody traitor.' If we win', an aide added, 'we'll get him for this.' They lost, though. Sir William has learned a thing or two out east. In his time he has fought the Chinese, winning a DSO in battle as a sub- altern in the Korean War. He may have come to believe that they can tell the dif- ference between Englishmen (like Mr Pat- ten) and Scots (like himself). Indeed, he may be right about that, too.
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