Delighted to be part of this distinguished panel to discuss the disordered state of our world at the Fleet Street Quarter Festival of Words on 14 May. Do join us! Tickets available here www.ticketsource.com/festival-of-...
These three, and others like them, helped to sweep away the barrier to women serving in the upper tier of the FO. This happened in 1945, but women were still required to resign on marriage. That disgraceful rule was only scrapped in 1973. Result: we now at last have women in many top jobs! End
Nancy Lambton was a Persian scholar. The Embassy in Tehran hired her as Press Attaché. She spent the whole war criss-crossing Iran. When Sir Reader Bullard presented credentials to the Shah he took Lambton, who had to invent an outfit since there was no diplomatic uniform for women! 5/6
Elizabeth Wiskemann was a journalist in pre-war Germany, expert on the Sudetenland. In 1939, she joined the hush-hush Pol Info Dept of the FO and was sent to neutral Berne. She mingled with shady characters of all kinds picking up valuable info on events in Occupied Europe. 4/6
She made a long trip alone to influence tribal elders in Sana’a, finding that access to the harem enabled her to meet the leading men in informal circs. She went on to create pro-British networks in Egypt and Iraq (Brotherhood of Freedom) which each grew to over 6,000 people. 3/6
Some remarkable women showed that they c’d work successfully in places where FO doctrine said they couldn’t. One was Freya Stark (here as a young woman). Well known as an intrepid traveller and writer, fluent in Arabic, she joined the Min of Info in 1939 and was sent to Aden. 2/6
Three weeks to publication of geni.us/PeaceMakers. This week’s🧵is on the women of the Foreign Office in WWII. They were barred from joining the ‘administrative grade’: the senior staff/policymakers. Many hundreds joined the FO in support functions like typing. BUT 1/6
💥Some much-needed good news! UK finalises participation in Erasmus+ enabling young people from UK and EU states to study, do apprenticeships or make school visits to each others’ countries. Life-enhancing opportunities for the next generation: bravo. www.gov.uk/government/n...
If I was Marine Le Pen, I would tell Vance and co to stay well away from France for the next year.
Democracy is alive and well in Hungary! A great result which helps European cohesion vis a vis Russia and the US - and a fitting response to their meddling. www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c2...
By all accounts Trump was very impressed when in his first term Macron invited him to the 14 juillet ceremony. Trump has already staged his copycat parade in Washington. Now he wants his Arc de Triomphe.
Thank you! And best wishes to another OV.
Thanks both. Grateful to the excellent FCDO historians for permission to use these pictures taken in 1941.
A key function was the 24/7 telegram system to flash vital messages to Embassies around the world. Many young women were recruited for the cypher room, working alongside men. They were in the basement during the Blitz, but by 1941 were in the grand Locarno Room. More on women in the FO next week!
Their duties included patrolling the corridors with fixed bayonets. It was never clear what they should do if they encountered the enemy. One patrol did however disturb a young couple on the Foreign Sec’s sofa. ‘What are you doing?’ someone shouted. A superfluous question! 5/6
The other option was the Home Guard unit. Hierarchy was put aside. The officers were older junior staff who had fought in WW1. Younger diplomats like Bob Dixon (who became Ambo in the US) and Donald Maclean (who has a more notorious future) square-bashed under their command. 4/6
Cadogan himself decided he had to do some nights of this to set an example. It could be hazardous work in the rain. The FO log records many busy nights with numerous incendiaries tackled. As a result the sprawling complex housing the FO and Home Office avoided major damage. 3/6
The Permanent Secretary Sir Alec Cadogan asked all able-bodied males however senior to volunteer for night duty several times a week. One option was fire-watching, ie scrambling around on the roofs in the dark to spot incendiary bombs and direct professional firemen to them. 2/6
Four weeks to publication of Peace Makers geni.us/PeaceMakers! Time for another🧵on one of the stories in the book. This week, how the FO in London coped with blitz and blackout while at full throttle on policy work. Part of the answer: everyone was expected to muck in. 1/6
My thanks to Laura for posting this. I spoke to Justin Webb on the programme a couple of hours after the bombing started on 28 February so it was good to round up with him as the ceasefire starts 39 days later.
@lordrickettsp.bsky.social former UK National Security Adviser, on BBC Breakfast: 'Although Iran has suffered massive destruction in a way I think they come out of this strategically strengthened'
The dizzying overnight developments on Iran make it a bracing morning to be on BBCr4today. Will do my best to decrypt the situation at 0730.
Is Congress finally waking up?
Ah - but it wasn’t a difficult prediction!
I’m very wary of this. I can see it serves US interests, but why would Iran give away its Trump card of the chokehold on the Straits in return for vague undertakings? Where is Israel in all this? But the offer of a plan might be the ladder that allows Trump to climb down. In short, another TACO?
I have just commented on TimesRadio that this extraordinary rescue mission has saved Trump from the nightmare scenario of having a US airman paraded on Iranian TV, but hasn’t changed his dilemma on whether to escalate or wind down his war. He will have to
take a decision on that before markets open.
You will discover, if you are kind enough to buy the book, that there are a lot of unknown stories. There are some good photos too!
A star guest who tells for the very first time her story of working in the wartime Foreign Office and travelling with Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden to some of the most dramatic summits of the war. Watch this space. End.
In the coming weeks: three remarkable women whose brave service in tough places helped break down the barrier to female diplomats. Plus evacuations, internment, cross-dressing spies, and producing the blueprints for the UN and NATO in the midst of a world war. And finally…4/5
Then he took an even greater risk with Vatican neutrality by organising and funding an escape line, saving 1000s of Allied PoWs. He was aided by Major Sam Derry(who he hid) and by Msgr Hugh O’Flaherty, who gets the credit in the film The Scarlet and the Black. But Osborne’s role was key. 3/5