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weenie: a rr ‘ THE OL _ iy ae ode 0 . < . ‘ ‘ en . at per oe oe yg y- - au " oe ee DES nil ele al ee lie nS Sele ; Dre er ree Sn nent tae Bc te Rie eg ne 73 * iy go = ty ny — v. . wet ares 1 ‘ A ~ é t r ‘ p * 1 ve: NOE ape eee % ape enone Se ee ee ee . " cee . ce 7 moe <a a yop S : . eae ” - bernie ee ee 4 in ae rene oe - r aannd oe i 7 4 _ - foot 2S . } po it 74 pe aes + Hrs ae ge = a Bee an 4 ~ fee. : jaa. of 2° ‘ : met “= 4 . . ee ee! Jha age ee tee pee be es _ t a a a - - ee7thom i “are eet zoatee om CRG , "e See cole a. t t -~ - < oe pee potest ae ’ (MR. MACPHERSON] oo oeeyry eae tet of Joyalty to the club from time to time —to pul it mildly, becoming an obstacle , 10 one’s greater loyalties. ¢ pte greet ’ -- JE must say that I do not think ft at all likely that this intake reflects in an srious way the intellectual requirements of the Foreign Office. I should not imagine that there is all that difference, intellectually, between the products of Oxford and Cambridge on one hand and those of London University and the pro- vincial and Scottish universities on the other. Nor would anyone suggest that there is any ground for thinking that there is any wide divergence in the moral qualities and characters of the graduates. But, despite the fact that recruitment ig farmed out to the Civil Service Selection Board—as it should be—there is still far too narrow a range of intake. That must be bad for the Service and must have played some part in creating some of the difficulties to which we have been addressing ourselves this afternoon... --.7 "During the period from 1945 to 1954 to which I have referred, there has been & great influx of people from the elemen- tary schools, and the maintained second- ary schools coming under the public suthorities, into the universities generally —but- mainly into the provincial and Scottish universities. In spite of that huge influx, the high figures for Oxford and Cambridge have continued. No sigo of it has been reflected in the appointments to the Foreign Office. 1 regret this. 1 think that it is one of the things that make a case for an inquiry into the methods of appointment, the sources of appointment and, indeed, - into the methods of training after a man has entered the foreign service. +. 0 ‘uit 2! i: On the previous occasion to which I ‘have referred, the Joint Under-Secretary seemed to be rather complacent and said that he was quite sure that the best candi- dates were obtained. ..1 suggest very strongly that, however good the present candidates -are, the. Service would be improved as a whole if they came from more -varied -sources, had more varied experience, were of more varied types and bad more varied backgrounds. Tbe bon. Gentleman said that there was no need * - to widen the source of recruitment. J doubt it I think an inquiry might well look into the possibility of widening the now gee ate. ogo es natn te pe Se oe ge eee aed ene 3 elie eb eds oe * roe. _ 1563". Former L... Officd, . 7 NOVEMBER 1955 opie Weppuiiis $561 ' We have to remember that the reali _of some of the popular feeling abo these things lies in the fact that. % popular feeling. If people think that th: people in the Foreign Service spend fot of time drinking cocktails and tha sort of thing, and are the type to whom this comes naturally because of their social background, the habit is developed of thinking of diplomats, and of the Foreign Office generally, as being cathe: different from the rest of the people. That is rather unhealthy. ¥€ there were two universities dominating the intake inte | the Foreign Service, I would far rather they were Liverpool and Bristol, for ** Admirable institutions though they are, of our 16 of 17 universities Oxford and Cambridge are the two which, to thé ordinary man in the sircet, are a little mnse teint ant wm em oe er More distant and represent a tile rather different from his own—much more thas do the provincial universities. There # undoubtedly a great deal of loose talk about the way in which diplomats live, | but there is a strong case for trying posi: tively to improve the understanding of diplomats by the people in general and of the people in general by diplomats. - As Jong as we adhere to the presént ‘very narrow intake, there are potential difli- cullies. In addition, we are losing an immense amount. The wider our net is cast—I do not think that it is- necessarily — a matter of democratisation, which the hon. Member for Coventry, East, was talking about—provided we keep to the approved standards, the more variety and - the better and stronger as a whole will | be the Service that we shall build up. <: |) fay e284 fi ety toon bas ecasit* 7.20 Pam cal i bie Tee ena Te Mr, Godfrey Nicholson (Farnham):. . The bon, Member for Stirling and Falkirk * Burghs (Mr. Malcolm MacPherson) made ° an exceedingly thoughtful speech, with - much of which I am in full agreement. . He said that the wider our net is cast thé = better service we would get But I reach 7 different conclusions from those that he ; teached. “For instance, 1 am quite certain £ that the Foreign Offite is making every f effort to cast its net wider. Then is the hon. Gentleman really saying that the * Civil Service Commissioners, are actively 7 prejudiced in favour of Oxford and Cam- ridge? .¥ know that he is not sayi a1fes sources of recruitment... 2:uit.;. +. that, $0 he need not trouble to deny it. t oo, BPM oD . oe a tua L eee Cae te ale le Be me ~ vies . ar? * a e. erm ‘ . 7 wi Ph Cr we Sr 7 . wee pe > re : : . — ee ee en ene te i" ~ . a wee wre ¥en: nn soa = “*