This is a very confused policy 1/ ft.com/content/6e0790… via @FT
2/ Open up senior appointments to competition? A good idea. But...
3/ Business leaders shouldn't be the only people included. There will be some business leaders, politicians, professors journalists aid workers and military officers who could be first class ambassadors.
4/ If they meet the criteria in an open competition. Good.
5/ But having an "ambassador" who lives it up the residence while a DCM does all the hard work wouldn't provide any of the benefits of outside talent in real roles.
6/ Even an India style system of having two officials with the rank of Ambassador doesn't solve that.
7/ And the suggestion that non-jobs could be given to business people or others who win political flavour is not conductive to the credibility Government's anti-corruption agenda.
8/ Ceremonial envoys like @TomTugendhat suggested can have a limited role, but real diplomacy is mostly hard work, interminable meetings and the cultivation of deep country knowledge and relationships.
9/ Whether a ceremonial envoy and their entourage are the best use of an outrageously depleted FCO budget at a time when Britain's standing in the world is another matter entirely. ENDS
