Naked Diplomacy by Tom Fletcher review – international relations for the digital age

There’s hope for the Foreign Office and Britain’s place in the world in this upbeat missive from an ex-ambassador

In 1931 a French diplomat complained that “the activities of the press, and ignorance of a public that insists on being told everything, do not create an atmosphere favourable to prosecution of political designs”. This idea – that we, the public and the press, should not be told the truth – runs contrary to our understanding of open, democratic government, and yet a growing number of us have a sense that we are being deceived by our politicians. This is something Tom Fletcher acknowledges when he talks of “the decline of trust and confidence in the political class”. And yet in this, his first book, he does not see it as a crisis. At least, not yet.

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