AS if there isn't enough politics in the territory as it is, supporters of Britain's Labour Party have set up a local branch here in this fortress of unbridled capitalism.
Brains behind the move is Bill McKenzie, a 48-year-old partner at accountants Price Waterhouse and one-time adviser to the Shadow Treasury team under the party's now sadly deceased leader, John Smith.
Bill came to Hong Kong after failing by under 1,000 votes to clinch Luton South in the last General Election. He jokes that he's here for the same reason that Chris Patten is: the Governor lost his parliamentary seat in the same election by an equally slim margin.
Bill, who has made something of a name for himself with his insightful financial advice, said he was prompted to set up the local Labour branch because, unlike the Conservatives, they have no formal presence here. People we contacted vaguely recall there having been one at some stage but it appears to have gone into abeyance.
Bill got a list of known Labour supporters from London head office (now known as John Smith House), contacted them and about a dozen turned up at the first meetings - in the Hermitage on Kennedy Road and, perhaps appropriately for Hong Kong, The Fringe Club in Lower Albert Road.
'We have just begun to form an agenda of what the group considers important which we will pass on to London,' he said.