The Spanish Ambassador’s Suitcase: Stories from the Diplomatic Bag

What our ambassadors didn’t want you to see - another volume of not-so-diplomatic writing

‘We have been, and should remain, in bed with the French. There are only two things you can conveniently do in bed. We have tried sleeping and it is time for the other…’ HM Resident Commissioner, New Hebrides, 1974

Following their acclaimed Parting Shots, Matthew Parris and Andrew Bryson bring together further sharp-eyed, thoughtful and often hilarious despatches from British Ambassadors abroad. Packed with curious and revealing stories (some once thought to be urban myths), including the horse given by the Turkmenistan authorities to John Major which had to be rescued from a Moscow railway and the Spanish Ambassador’s odd behaviour in the Algerian desert, this book also contains fascinating glimpses and insights into diplomatic - and undiplomatic affairs. Showing our representatives abroad at their best and sometimes worst - whether rude or sympathetic, clever or confused - it shines a light on how we British have seen the world … and how the world has too often seen us.