Chris Patten

Chris Patten, the chancellor of Oxford and Newcastle universities, was previously the member of Parliament for Bath, chairman of the Conservative Party, and the last British governor of Hong Kong, overseeing the return to China in 1997. From September 1999 until November 2004, he served as European Commissioner for External Relations.

On leaving office in Brussels he was made a life peer and took his seat in the House of Lords in January 2005. Lord Patten is the author of East and West: China, Power, and the Future of Asia, and, most recently, Cousins and Strangers: America, Britain and Europe in a New Century. (2006)

Events

February 2, 2006