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| ; ' ; ( NUE Len A RSET EARN EEA ET RE Sp EN mS $65 Former Foreign Office m sure that he would not dream of say- ing 60.. Hf one admits that only educa- ional examinations and personal qualifi- Potions are taken into consideration, if one admits that examinations are conducted fairly, and efforts are being constantly ‘made to interest the provincial universi- fies, 1 do not think that the burden of his gharse. is 40 heany, as he makes it out to With regard to Oxford and Cambridge, I do not know exactly the proportions, “put the vast majority of the undergradu- *ates of those universitics are maintained by grants from Government or public bodies. My experience of the Diplomatic ' Service is not extensive, but I certainly Fknow = number of its members, “Last year, I went with a Parliamentary delega- tion to the Far East and saw a great deal of three Embassies in Tokyo, Bangkok and Rangoon. I was deeply struck—and I Tam yery glad to have an opporlunity of aying this tribute—by the exceedingly Fit standard of integrated efficiency typical of each of those three Missions, and I was immensely struck by the wide variety of social background of the mem- bers of those Missions. JI am talking not * only about the senior branch. I could p not have been more favourably impressed thanI was, © keene Dep sree My opinion was backed up in each of those three capitals when I talked to English businessmen and British citizens resident there. All of them said that the foreign nationals there were constantly expressing envy of our Foreign Service and saying that they wished their mis- sions were as efficient and as representa- tive. I am sorry that this debate has so much taken the tone of an attack on the Foreign Service.. W oid com Mr. Malcolm MacPherson; ‘I am sure that the hon. Member will not take it that J am attacking the Foreign Service. 1 am uying to suggest how we can im- prove it. We are continually doing that public fife in this country, without necessarily attacking something which we want to improve. It is not simply a matter of the social background when one talks about Oxford and Cambridge, al- though that is important. I think that the Proportion of maintained scholars is thi 0, probably less at these two institutions ao the hon. Member thinks. -Apart “DW from social questions, there is the purely- 2 NOVEMBER 1955 oni pO 1586 - from the same kind of intellectual chan- (4... , nel. These two universities are like each ” other and different from the universities -_ of Leeds or Glasgow. The channel they come from is the same kind intellectual], apart sliogether from the social side. a Mr. Nicholson : The hon. Gentleman is very disarming. 1 was nol accusing him ~.-- of making ao unfair of unreasonable attack. I was thinking of the speech - made by the hon. Member for Coventry, _ East (Mr. Crossman), which I regarded as most uahelptel do not want to be Jed away by the hon. Gentleman into the vestion of intelicctual channels. 1 think at everyone bears the stamp of the in- stitution ‘at which he was educated, but ~" ‘ I think that social background is perhaps ‘one of the most important things." ' <4" i ~ J was saying that I believe that it ‘ fhe experience of hon. Members in this i House that wherever they go. or almost { everywhere they go, they find that the... British Mission in a foreign capital has. the highest reputation of any Mission. intellectual question of people coming - ~ | it is a great pity, as I have said, that ~ “~~ this debate has taken that particular tren. ep so sa EE I te ape - While we must avoid complacency, ff ~ — is not only unjust and unfair but short- sighted and inimical to the best interests of this country if i goes out to the world that the House of Commons has spent the best part of a day in attacking 4 coy service that is the envy of every othet Nation in the world. There have certainly been these, mistakes over Maclean and Burgess, but the fact remains—and I say ~ it categorically—that our Forcign Service is varied in its personnel, is democratic _ in the sense that in ali ranks its members ~"- are drawn from the most diverse social background, is efficient, and is envied, --- While not attempting to cover up what — has_happeoed, I do beg the House to keep a sense of proportion and a sense of balance, oe DM Tees an aay ~ Something’ was said by the Foreigd’ Secretary about members of the Foreign ~. Service having fewer of the rights of ordinary citizens than did members of- the rest of the Civil Service, He referred... to the committee which gets rid of people *- who are considered unsuitable, I believg sion... that if the confidence, which has been @ little shaken, is to be fully restored, the’ ~. work of that commitice will have-to - ste ee further, and 1 think that mombers-of the <0 <:<:-- ou