On Her Majesty's Diplomatic Service

Sir Michael Burton

• Publisher: IB2 Media
• Year: 2022
• eBook ISBN: 9781839785146
• Edition: 0
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Index: Social Sciences

'A sparkling book... a joy to read' - Peter Frankopan, Professor of Global History at Oxford University and author of The Silk Roads"e;You're good at languages. That means you go into the Diplomatic, "e; pronounced the father of the teenage Michael Burton.And so began a diplomatic career, ranging from Khartoum to the Khyber Pass, that encompassed a wide variety of experiences: resolving tribal uprisings among Gulf Arabs, helping from Paris to achieve Britain's entry into Europe, smoothing the path to a united Germany in Berlin after the fall of The Wall, and serving as British Ambassador in a post from which he had been banned by the Foreign Office twenty-eight years earlier.Sir Michael Burton's fascinating memoir describes interactions with four British prime ministers, an American president, an Arab king and a master Soviet spy - not to mention facilitating royal visits to several of his postings, which displayed Britain's 'soft power' in action.In the process, Burton vividly illustrates British diplomacy at work, and reveals an aspect of Britain's governance that rarely sees the light of day.'Sparkles with incident and colour... Highly recommended.' - Lord Ricketts, former UK National Security Advisor, UK Ambassador to France, Head of HM Diplomatic Service.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Abbreviations
• Preface
• Introduction
• 1 In the Beginning: Family, Wartime Childhood and Schooldays
• 2 The Path to Diplomacy: From the Malayan Jungles to Magdalen, Oxford
• 3 Into the Arab World: Learning Arabic, the ‘Spy School’ and Gulf Tribal Disputes
• 4 Diplomacy at Home and Abroad: Marriage Despite Opposition, the Iraq and Iran Desks, Sudan and on to the Six Day War
• 5 Paris and Britain’s Path to Europe: From the Heath–Pompidou Summit to the Queen’s State Visit (via the Cannes Film Festival)
• 6 Science and Technology in the Foreign Office, then Back to the Middle East: Lebanon, Jordan and Israel
• 7 Kuwait: Observing the Islamic Revolution Next Door in Iran
• 8 From Kensington to the Khyber Pass: The Iranian Embassy Besieged and Travels in South Asia
• 9 City in a Time Warp: Berlin under the Allies
• 10 The Fall of the Berlin Wall: The Drive to Reunification
• 11 Through the Wall and into the East: Promoting Britain and Observing a New Germany
• 12 Policy-Making at the Centre: Director, Middle East and North Africa in the Foreign Office
• 13 Ambassador in Prague: The Post-Communist Czech Republic in a State of Transition
• Reflections
• Index
• Photos