PublishedPenguin, September 2011 |
ISBN9780670919291 |
FormatSoftcover, 400 pages |
Dimensions19.8cm × 12.9cm × 2.4cm |
Up till 2006 a British Ambassador leaving his post was encouraged to write what was known as a valedictory despatch, to be circulated to a small number of influential people in government. This was the parting shot, an opportunity to offer a personal and frank view of the host country, the manners and morals of its people, their institutions, the state of their cooking and their drains.
But it was also a chance to let rip at the Foreign Office itself and to look back on a career spent in the service of a sometimes ungrateful nation.
