◆ SpookStack

weet ISP" Former L.. Officé, . 7. NOVEMBER 3955 nett Vays 1564 Eitan (MR. MacPuerson,} .- exe tet of Joyalty to the club fro: ie to time —to put it mildly, becoming an obstacle - 10 one’s greater loyalties. ¢ pig -, * ... must say that I do not think it at ‘all likely that this intake reflects in any serious way the intelectual 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 is * farmed out to the Civil Service Selection Board—as lt should be—there is still fat too narrow @ 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- arty 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 @ ‘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. On the previous occasion to which I ‘have referred, the Joint Under- 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 preseat 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 had more varied backgrounds. Gentleman said that there was no need “to widen the source of recruitment. I doubt it. I think an inquiry might well Took into the possibility of widening the sources of recruitment... peu. cen er an Srl dag ae ae « : We have to remember (hat the rea! of some of the popular feeling these things lies in the fact that it & popular feeling. If people think that th ple in the Foseign Service spend 4 for of time drinking cocktails different from the rest of the people. is rather unhealthy. If there were two ‘aniversities dominating the intake inte the Foreign Service, 1 would far rather they were Liverpool and Bristol, for example, than Oxford and Cambridge. * Admirable institutions though they sre, of our 16 of 17 universities Oxford and Cambridge are the two which, to thé ordinary man in the sircet, are o little tore distant and represent a fife rather different from his own—much more thao 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 Tong as we ere to the presént very narrow intake, there are potential diff- culties. In addition, we are losing an immense amount. The wider our net # cast—I do not think that it is necessarily & matter of democratisation, which the hon, Member for Coventry, East, was talking about—provided we keep to the spproved standards, the more variety and : the better and stronger as a whole will | be the Service that we shall build up. «: ,' She Fd Fi eNOD It toons bas cost t 7.20 p.m. che fie AAR Tb Mr. Godfrey Nicholson {Farnham):; |‘ ‘The bon, Member for Stirling and Falkirk . Burghs (Mr. Malcolm MacPherson) made * an exceedingly thoughtful speech, with - muck of which I am in full agreement. . He said that the wider our net is cast the Detter service we would get Bui I different conclusions from those that teached. -For instance, 1 am quite certai that the Foreign Offiée is making evi eflort to cast its net wider. Then is tl hon. Gentleman really saying that Civil Service Commissioners, are activ ‘cjudiced in favour of Oxford and Cai idge? .1 know that he is not sayi that, so he need not trouble to deny &. . tad - 4 i Le eee ere OE prone oe FEaB mde BE