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Article: Why does the Foreign Office always seem to get it wrong?
- Article from:
- The Independent (London, England)
- Article date:
- August 14, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2001 The Independent - London. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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I MADE my first visit to the British Foreign Office several years
after I was elected to Parliament. New boys were invited regularly to
the offices of education, employment, environment, or health
departments but the Foreign Office was the preserve of the "grown-
up" grey beards of politics.
Only when the Falklands Islands crisis blew up, in 1982, did minor
backbenchers like me realise that the Foreign Office had the capacity
to wreck our chances of re-election. To placate us, ministers invited
us through the grand portals. Suddenly, the question arose in many of
our minds: what was the Foreign Office for? The education department
"looked after and promoted education". The case was similar ...