HC Deb 11 June 1941 vol 372 cc165-7
3. Mr. Cary

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, whether he is yet in a position to make a statement about the reform of the diplomatic service?

The Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (Mr. Eden)

Yes, Sir. In January last I asked my right hon. Friend the Member for Mitcham (Sir M. Robertson), who himself had a distinguished career in the Diplomatic Service and has since had notable business experience, to assist me in the inquiries I have been making into the future organisation of the Foreign Service. My right hon. Friend has now made his recommendations, with which I agree, and His Majesty's Government have decided to introduce a series of reforms which will result in the creation of. one combined Foreign Service, embracing the Foreign Office and the Diplomatic and Consular Services. In this Service, which will be separated from the Home Civil Service, the highest posts will be open to all members.

Viscountess Astor

And women?

Mr. Eden

All members. The system of entry will be revised with the objects of widening the field of selection and of making the Service more representative. The proposed reforms also include provision for ensuring to Heads of our Missions expert advice on commercial and financial, as well as on military matters, and on social and labour questions. They provide for the encouragement of officers with a specialised knowledge of eastern countries. They provide also for improving administration in the new Foreign Service. The financial reforms aim at encouraging the entry of men without private means and at increasing efficiency by permitting the retirement on pension of men who have shown themselves unsuited for the highest posts. I shall be asking the House to approve proposals to give effect to these financial changes.

Hon. Members will realise that many of the details of the above reforms have still to be worked out. Moreover they cannot all be brought into effect at once. I have thought it right, however, to acquaint the House with the general lines upon which the Government has decided that action shall be taken. In making this announcement, I should like to pay tribute to the able and devoted work performed by our Diplomatic and Consular staffs at home and abroad, in the face of great difficulties. To-day, and after the war, a Foreign Service of exceptional efficiency is necessary if our diplomacy is to be as effective as it should be, and I am convinced that the reforms which I propose will not only increase efficiency, but will also make our diplomacy more representative of the country as a whole.

Mr. Shinwell

May I ask my right. hon. Friend, while appreciating the statement he has made, indicating very necessary reforms, whether in connection with the appointment of commercial attaches and commercial counselors, he will take care to select persons who have trade and industrial experience?

Mr. Eden

Yes, that is what I had in mind both in respect of those advisers and labour advisers.

Captain McEwen

Can my right hon. Friend inform me whether consideration has been given to the idea of setting up a body in the nature of a staff college to act as a sieve in order to provide an élite for the appointments to the higher posts?

Mr. Eden

I do not know whether I would describe it as a staff college, but it is the intention that the Secretary of State shall be advised by a special body in respect of these appointments, and that that advisory body shall be in continuous existence.

Viscountess Astor

Do the Government still intend to keep women out of the foreign and diplomatic and consulate services, and if so could the right hon. Gentleman tell us why, considering the appalling failure which has been made by so many members of the foreign and diplomatic and consulate services?

Mr. Eden

My hon. Friend has raised another question from those with which I was dealing. I think if we get on with these reforms, which I hope she will approve, we may be able to see light in the sense she wants.

Mr. Shinwell

What is the nature of the advisory body to which the right hon. Gentleman refers? Will it be thoroughly representative?

Mr. Eden

It will be in the Service, of course.

Mr. Shinwell

Will it be confined to the Service?

Mr. Gallacher

Try a few working men.

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