A FUTURE AMBASSADOR

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 84, 3 January 1930, Page 8

A FUTURE AMBASSADOR

SIR ROBERT VANSITTART Dominion Special Service. London, November 2L Sir Robert Vansittart’s appointment as Permanent Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs in succession to Sir Ronald Lindsay, who goes to Washington, i« regarded as a prelude to still further promotion. In all probability he will be found before long in an Ambassadorial post. His advance is an exception to the general experience that promotion is lost by being seconded for outside work. It happened, however, that Sir Robert, by being attached to the Prime Minister’s staff, was placed in a position in which lie could not be forgotten or overlooked, especially as the Prime Minister keeps a close watch on foreign affairs and on Foreign Office appointments. Sir Robert became private secretary to Mr. Baldwin, and Mr. MacDonald confirmed him in the appointment and raised him to the rank of Assistant Under-Secretary, though he never carried out the duties of the latter post. For many years he worked in close contact with Lord Curzon, undertaking with great success the publicity work of the Foreign Office at a time when it was important to remove the veil of secrecy from many aspects” of policy. Sir Robert Vansittart Is ofie of our literary diplomatists, ' for he has written plays and poems, and even a novel. His fiction produced a good deal of controversy. It purported to be a story of a hitherto unknown son of Charles 11., who, after being brought up. obscurely in Belgium, appeared at. the English Court. Historical experts disputed whether Charles 11. ever had such a son, and Sir Robert then admitted that the character was a creation of the imagination.