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Biographie de Chris Patten

Chris Patten is one of Britain's most respected political figures. After reading Modern History at Balliol College, Oxford, he began his career in politics when he joined the Conservative Research Department in 1966. He was elected as MP for Bath in 1979, a seat he held until April 1992. After ministerial posts at the departments of Education, Environment and the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, he was appointed Chairman of the Conservative Party in 1990. He was made Governor of Hong Kong in 1992, a position he held until 1997 when he oversaw the return of Hong Kong to China. In September 1999 he was appointed European Commissioner for External Relations, and on leaving office in Brussels in 2004 was made a life peer. Lord Patten is Chancellor of Newcastle and Oxford universities and now spends much of his time campaigning for increased funding for higher education. He is the author of The Tory Case (1983) and the international bestseller East and West (1998), which described his experiences in Hong Kong. He lives in Barnes with his wife Lavender; they have three daughters.