Derek Pasquill was a Foreign and Commonwealth Office man to his core. He was born to a diplomat father and service wife, weaned in its embassies, trained in its boarding schools and polished by its fine minds until he was ready to represent liberal Britain to a hostile world.
The FCO was the only institution he really knew, and he took its benevolence for granted. His mother was German and his parents did not want to spend their days at drinks parties with cliquey expats who would not treat the overwhelming majority of their compatriots as their social equals, let alone foreigners. They toured his father's postings instead.
When he was on holiday from his English boarding schools, they took him to the Roman ruins at Baalbek in Lebanon and the palaces of Ctesiphon, Iraq. Pasquill had an isolated but privileged childhood and he looks back on it with gratitude. His whole life had been leading him towards a career in the diplomatic service. It was his natural home.
Today, the FCO views him as the most devastating whistleblower in its recent history....
More...(link to mag). (or, PDF here .)
ADDED 18/6/24): Link Rot strikes again. Both of these links don’t work. The PDF one was a link to a site that I had myself, where I kept PDF’s, thinking they’d be a better bet than the hyperlink, but it seems that Google has simply retired that without quite telling me. This whole issue of Link Rot does raise questions of how long our writings will last when they’re all up there in the Clouds and the clouds simply move and evanesce with time.
