It should be noted that Britain tried to give Hong Kong more democracy and freedom since the 60’s but got rejected by China [1], when saying that Hong Kong had more freedom after the handover in 1997.
That’s like me taking your wallet, but still offering to let you use your debit card once in a while. At the end of the day, it's a colonizer dictating the terms of governance over territory obtained through coercive means.
I'm not sure that "colonial governor suggested it" is the same as "Britain tried"...