appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

liveArticle

appConfig

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sectionsV2

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

json

British consul-general Stephen Bradley will step down  early next year, and politicians and diplomats are already vying for the job.

Mr Bradley has chosen not to extend his four-year posting and will return to Britain before the  Queen's Birthday celebration in June.

At this year's celebration he suggested  the bash would be his last in Hong Kong.

An insider close to Mr Bradley said he was expected to nominate a date in March to depart.

A political gossip column in the British newspaper The Independent, quoting a source within the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, said former cabinet minister and Labour chairman Ian McCartney had been manoeuvring for the post.

British consulate  spokesman Neale Jagoe  confirmed Mr Bradley would finish his posting in the first half of  next year.

But he said the consulate would not comment on any speculation surrounding his replacement.

'Stephen is due to finish his four-year tour as the consul-general of Hong Kong in the first half of 2008 and his successor has yet to be announced,' he said.

'We will make an announcement in due course.'

As a former colony with a large population of UK citizens and deep ties with Britain, the posting is considered a prestigious one within the diplomatic corps.

The Independent's gossipy Pandora column described Mr Bradley as a 'bow-tie twizzling man-boy'. They quoted a source from within the Foreign and Commonwealth Office as saying Mr McCartney was inappropriate for the post because 'the language is a problem'. The former Minister of State for Trade has a particularly strong Scottish accent.

Ma Ngok, a political analyst at Chinese University, said the new appointee would be unlikely to change the relatively low-profile that Mr Bradley had had since taking up the position.

'There seems to be  general happiness about the way things are going in Hong Kong in Britain,' he said.

'They don't see major violations of the joint declaration, they don't see the current situation creating any diplomatic problems for them, so that low-profile attitude largely reflects the position of the Labour government after 1997.'

Mr Ma said the British had also ceased to be a major player in local politics.

'In this regard, the mainland government should also be happy at the way the British representatives have performed in Hong Kong after the handover,' he said.

'They understand that it is sensitive. The  [central] government has always been concerned about lingering influences with the British diplomatically or domestically, so for them it is important to keep a low profile.

'The representative always reflects the government rather than showing much personal initiative.'



Jockeying begins for successor to British consul-general