Irate diplomats reject report

Press, 4 August 1977, Page 8

Irate diplomats reject report

NZPA-Reuter London Britain’s diplomats rallied yesterday against an official suggestion that their numbers should be trimmed to reflect the country’s decline. A former Foreign Secretary, Lord George-Brown, said the idea that Britain was no longer a front-rank nation was “nonsense and dangerous nonsense at that.” A Government-appointed “think tank” recommended the cuts, in view of what it called the decline in Britain’s power and influence. But through their association, the diplomats hit back. They challenged the conclusion that Britain had little hope of recovery in world status and asked how France would fare now if it had cut back its diplomatic service during the economic and political troubles of the late 19505.

Large sections of the press applauded the report’s frankness.

“The Times” said: “The review is right to be frank about Britain’s declining power and to suggest that some of our attitudes in politics and diplomacy have not vet caught up with reality.” The "Financial Times” said there were good reasons

for change. “Quite simply, Britain is no longer the power that it was in the early post-war period.” Diplomats do not deny the need to take stock occasionally, but they are angry that the exercise has been so frequent. Britain’s diplomatic service has been investigated three times in the last 13 years. It now accounts for less than 0.3 per cent of total public expenditure and has reduced its staff by 15 per cent since 1965.

But the report has led to renewed attacks on diplomats. The Communist “Morning Star” said, “The long-awaited report conclusively shows up the higher echelons of the diplomatic service as a clique of upper-class snobs boozing at public expense.”

The diplomats, touchy about their elitist image, said that diplomacy is not synonymous with high living. Despite all the fuss, it is unlikely that much will happen before the end of the year to revamp the Foreign Office. Parliament will debate the recommendations in the autumn and then the Government will decide whether to further trim its overseas representation.