Trained as a historian, Chris Patten started his political career in 1966 with the Conservative Party's Research Department.
He entered parliament in 1979, the year Margaret Thatcher was elected Prime Minister. Subsequently, he climbed up the ranks of the British Conservative Party — and made it to the position of party chairman.
Mr. Patten became the last British governor of Hong Kong in 1992 — and served in that post unitl August 1997. Before the handover of Hong Kong to China, he introduced significant democratic reforms.
In 1999, Mr. Patten became a member of the European Commission. As Commissioner for External Relations, he is the de facto foreign minister of the EU.
Chris Patten is also the author of "East and West: The Last Governor of Hong Kong on Power, Freedom and the Future," which was published in 1998.
