37 Facts About Percy Cradock

Sir Percy Cradock was a British diplomat, civil servant and sinologist who served as British Ambassador to the People's Republic of China from 1978 to 1983, playing a significant role in the Sino-British negotiations which led up to the signing of the Sino-British Joint Declaration in 1984.

Percy Cradock's ambassadorship witnessed the start of the Sino-British negotiations in 1982, which subsequently resulted in the Joint Declaration in 1984, an agreement deciding the future of the sovereignty of Hong Kong after 1997.

However, the decision of Percy Cradock, who was the British chief negotiator in the negotiations, to compromise with the Chinese authorities, was regarded as a major retreat by the general media in Hong Kong and the United Kingdom, and was heavily criticised at that time as betraying the people of Hong Kong.

Percy Cradock remained a trusted advisor to the then Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, who appointed him as Chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee in 1985.

Percy Cradock was successful in fighting to guarantee, in the Basic Law of Hong Kong, that half of the seats of the Legislative Council would be directly elected by 2007.

However, Percy Cradock worsened his relationship with Thatcher's successor, John Major, by forcing him to visit China in 1991 after the row between the two countries over the Airport Core Programme of Hong Kong.

Percy Cradock spent his later years in writing a number of books on realpolitik diplomacy and was a non-executive director of the South China Morning Post.

Percy Cradock was born on 26 October 1923 in Byers Green, County Durham, to a farming family.

Percy Cradock was enlisted in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War, and after that, entered St John's College, Cambridge, being the first ever Cradock to enter university in his family history.

Percy Cradock subsequently authored a well-received book of the history of the Society in 1953, covering the period from 1815 to 1939.

In 1954, Percy Cradock gave up his academic career in Cambridge and joined the Foreign Office as a late entrant.

Percy Cradock served in the London headquarters from 1954 to 1957, and was then posted to the British High Commission in Kuala Lumpur, Malaya, as First Secretary from 1957 to 1961.

Percy Cradock was sent to Hong Kong in 1961 to learn Mandarin, and in the next year became Chinese Secretary of the British Charge d'affaires Office in Peking, the People's Republic of China.

Back in London, Percy Cradock became head of the Planning Staff of the Foreign Office from 1969 to 1971, and then an Under-Secretary and head of the Assessments Staff of the Cabinet Office, serving under two Prime Ministers, first, Sir Edward Heath, and secondly, Harold Wilson.

Percy Cradock took up his first ambassadorial post from 1976 to 1978 as British Ambassador to East Germany.

Percy Cradock led the British delegation to the Comprehensive Test Ban Discussions in Geneva, Switzerland, from 1977 to 1978.

In 1978, Percy Cradock was posted to Peking for the third time to succeed Sir Edward Youde as British Ambassador to the People's Republic of China, a post created in 1972 to supersede the position of Charge d'affaires.

In Hong Kong, only MacLehose, Kan and Wilson knew the purpose of their mission, which was facilitated by Youde in London and Percy Cradock in Peking, and was endorsed by the Foreign Secretary, Dr David Owen.

Percy Cradock feared that prolonged or broken talks would put China in an advantageous position and would provide it with an excuse to unilaterally decide the future of Hong Kong, at a time when 1997 was rapidly approaching.

In July 1983, the United Kingdom and China began their second round of negotiations in Peking, with Percy Cradock remaining as the British chief negotiator.

Percy Cradock was deeply worried that China would leave the negotiating table and act alone.

Yet, the rumour never turned into reality, and on the contrary, Percy Cradock, who was dubbed "Maggie's Mandarin", and had become a much trusted advisor to Margaret Thatcher, insisted that he should be posted back to London.

Percy Cradock continued to serve as her advisor until the 1987 General Election.

When John Major succeeded Thatcher as the Prime Minister in 1990, Percy Cradock continued to work in 10 Downing Street, but his relationship with Major was not as good as with Thatcher.

Fortunately, no one in the cabinet meeting, including Percy Cradock, was injured by the terrorist attack.

Percy Cradock was instructed to visit Peking secretly in the end of 1989, trying to maintain the Joint Declaration and to cool down the Communist antipathy in Hong Kong.

Percy Cradock believed that these measures would be effective in maintaining the prosperity of Hong Kong, and in the long run, he believed all the seats of the Legislative Council would be directly elected.

In 1995, Percy Cradock publicly said in an interview that "He [referring to Patten] has made himself so obnoxious to the Chinese" and later, on another occasion, he described Patten as the "incredible shrinking Governor".

Percy Cradock suffered from ill health and died in London on 22 January 2010, aged 86.

Percy Cradock's funeral took place at St Mary's Church, Twickenham, in western London on 6 February 2010.

Percy Cradock defended his actions on the grounds that he acted from a realist point of view and he thought that the United Kingdom actually had "no card" on hand and had little bargaining power at all.

Percy Cradock concluded that the solution that would best serve the interests of Hong Kong was to prevent China from acting unilaterally and to fight for the interests of the Hong Kong people within a limited and mutually agreed framework.

Apart from that, some commentators suggested that Percy Cradock had no reason to concur with China's view on the validity of the three treaties because under the general practice of international law, one must conclude a new treaty to invalidate and replace the old one, and therefore the three treaties were actually still in force.

Percy Cradock was a bitter critic of Governor Patten's political and democratic reform programme, blaming him for enraging the Chinese government, for which he thought Patten should be held responsible.

Percy Cradock blamed the implementation of the reform programme for damaging the agreed "through-train" arrangement and other transitional arrangements, and that it would only bring adverse effect to the democratisation of post-1997 Hong Kong.

Percy Cradock advised the people of Hong Kong that to build a harmonious relationship with China was always better than confrontation and expressing discontent.

From 1953, Percy Cradock was married to Birthe Marie Dyrlund, who worked in the Foreign Office.