Britain Investigates Patten Over Alleged Hong Kong Leaks

British authorities are investigating allegations that Hong Kong’s last governor, Chris Patten, leaked secret documents, the government said Sunday.

“That will be done in a proper, objective and authoritative way,” Minister Without Portfolio Peter Mandelson said of the investigation.

Confirmation of the official probe came after the Sunday Times said Foreign Office officials are pressing for Patten to be prosecuted under Britain’s Official Secrets Act.

Patten is alleged to have leaked to writer and broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby details of a secret deal with China over Hong Kong’s future.

The colony was handed back to China at the end of June after 156 years of colonial rule.

Mandelson said authorities “have no alternative but to investigate it when allegations are made that secret intelligence material has been passed to individuals outside.”

“I’m not going to speculate on the outcome of that,” he told BBC Radio.

“But it would be irresponsible for the government not to take the action when there appears to have been a leak of intelligence material of this kind,” he added.

The Sunday Times said the dispute was sparked by its publication of excerpts from Dimbleby’s forthcoming book on Patten’s last day in office.

Patten was said to have been angry at Britain’s failure to institute direct elections in Hong Kong as of 1988 in order to hand over a democratic administration to China. He is said to have claimed that London gave in to China.