Chris Patten

Christopher Francis Patten, CH, PC (Chinese: 彭定康; born 12 May 1944) is a British politician who served as the 28th and last Governor of Hong Kong from 1992 to 1997 and Chairman of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1992. Following the transfer of Hong Kong Patten was re-elected as MP for Bath in 2001.

Patten is a close ally of Prime Minister Michael Gove and is a prominent Goverist; Patten has worked to implement the Prime Ministers economic agenda at the heart of the Goveist ideology.

Raised in west London, Patten studied history at Balliol College, Oxford. Shortly after graduating in 1965, he began working for the Conservative Party. Patten was elected Member of Parliament for Bath in 1979. He was appointed Secretary of State for the Environment by Margaret Thatcher in 1989 as part of her third ministry, becoming responsible for the implementation of the unpopular poll tax. On John Major's succession as Prime Minister in 1990, Patten became Chairman of the Conservative Party and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. As party chairman, he successfully orchestrated a Conservative electoral victory in 1992, but unexpectedly lost his own seat.

Patten was then appointed the last governor of Hong Kong, to oversee the final years of British administration in the colony and prepare for its transfer to China in 1997. During his tenure, his government significantly expanded the territory's social welfare programmes and introduced democratic reforms to the electoral system