WHEN Governor Chris Patten arrives at No 10 Downing Street on Tuesday to discuss the next steps for his Hongkong reform package, many believe he will find his staunchest ally, Prime Minister Mr John Major, privately advocating conciliation and dialogue with China.
London sources maintain that, while the British Government still supports him fully and will not force his hand, Westminster considers it is imperative that Mr Patten is seen to go even further than the proverbial extra mile to try and kick-start negotiations.
The question is: should he? On the plus side, despite the usual rhetoric, China has persistently maintained that the door is still open. Indeed, throughout last week, there was a noticeable decrease in the volume of their campaign against the Governor. And in an interview on Friday,New China News Agency director Mr Zhou Nan went out of his way to underscore Beijing's willingness to co-operate.
On the minus side, many observers believe, the real issue is not when talks start, but for how long they should be allowed to drag on. Only the most optimistic believe China will do anything other than keep discussions going for as long as possible, hoping both to block the possibility that the Patten blueprint can go through Legco this session and sap his support at the same time.
For these reasons, Mr Patten is thought privately to be most reluctant to concede so much as one point for negotiations that may turn out to be little more than a sham. Indeed, some at Government House insist the problem with relations between Hongkong and China now is not the Patten package itself, but the fact that China still thinks it can see a way of halting it.
Once Beijing is convinced there is no turning back, goes the theory, China's leaders will start the process of learning to live with whatever comes out at the end of the Legislative Council debate.
But if the latest batch of opinion polls is anything to go by, Mr Patten has a more pressing problem to address: preventing his support from slipping to such an extent that his detractors will be able to claim he has lost the backing of the Hongkong people.