Chris Patten
Chris Patten
Christopher Francis Patten, Baron Patten of Barnes CH PCis chancellor of the University of Oxford and a former governor of Hong Kong and the BBC Trust...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionPolitician
Date of Birth12 May 1944
numbers politician vow
Anyone who supposed that when Margaret Thatcher left Number Ten she was going to take a Trappist vow did not know that formidable politician.
growth world green
Green politics at its worst amounts to a sort of Zen fascism; less extreme, it denounces growth and seeks to stop the world so that we can all get off.
voting exotic way
There is a sort of exotic preposterousness about a lot of elections, the way arguments are made even cruder.
believe responsibility hands
I believe in trying to get a balance between individual freedom on the one hand and social responsibility on the other.
honesty winning people
It'd make a wonderful change to have the leader of a pluralist democracy who acted on that, who told people just how tough things are going to be, just what's going to have to be done - and, maybe, ran all the risks on the side of honesty, rather than spinning stories and trying to win the headlines every day.
mean thinking should
I don't think that capitalism should be unbridled, if by "unbridled" you mean unregulated.
intellectual baggage unnecessary
I suppose I've always carried what is regarded as a bit of unnecessary baggage in Britain. I've always carried the charge that I am an intellectual in politics.
thinking important endeavor
I think that if politics is just about getting your backside on important seats, then it's a pretty worthless endeavor.
america world easy
Multilateralism is not an easy option. We're going to find that the world is very difficult. And relationships between America and the rest of the world are very difficult.
trying wells victorian
It is a sort of great Victorian truth that actually, trying to do the right thing is pretty good for you and pretty good for business as well, by and large.
country causes moments
Undoubtedly, at the moment, the major cause of CO2 emission is what happens in developed countries.
childhood able royalty
Those of us who had a perfectly happy childhood should be able to sue for deprivation of literary royalties.
people waiting down-and
You don't have to wait until people say they accept everything you say until you are actually prepared to sit down and discuss matters with them.
vision asia west
Hong Kong represents the kind of Asia with which both West and East are comfortable, ... ... It offers, in that sense, a vision for the future of Asia.