Friend of territory Bonham-Carter dies from heart attack

LORD Bonham-Carter, one of Hong Kong's greatest friends and supporters at Westminster, has died aged 72.

The Liberal Democrat peer suffered a heart attack while on holiday in Italy on Sunday night.

Latterly Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman in the House of Lords, he had for years taken a keen interest in Hong Kong matters. It came to a head in the latter half of last year and earlier this year when he sponsored a private member's bill aimed at giving British passports to the potentially stateless Hong Kong ethnic minorities after 1997.

Senior Exco member Lady Dunn said last night: 'I am deeply distressed to hear of Lord Bonham-Carter's death. He was a friend and colleague. He was a strong supporter of Hong Kong and fought for many issues affecting the welfare of Hong Kong's people inside and outside the House of Lords.

'In the last few years he had campaigned relentlessly for the rights of Hong Kong's non-Chinese ethnic minorities, refusing to allow this important moral issue to be forgotten.

'Only two months ago he and I called on the Home Secretary to again argue the case of the minorities in Hong Kong. I very much hope that the Home Secretary will see his way to fulfilling one of Lord Bonham-Carter's last wishes by granting full British citizenship to Hong Kong's ethnic minorities.' The bill passed successfully through the House of Lords but fell earlier this year in the Commons due to Government opposition and lack of parliamentary time.