The Darroch Affair

[TheOstrich]

All very interesting, and it does raise a couple of questions:

1. The light and heat over Boris Johnson's refusal to "endorse" Darroch is a bit disingenuous in my book. Once the Daily Mail published the leaked email's, Darroch's fate was entirely in the hands of the White House.

There was a previous occasion where a newly-appointed Ambassador had, in his past career as a journalist, been very critical of the incoming US President (Nixon, possibly, but don't quote me). The President's reaction was to shrug and say "Well, he's a new diplomat and I'm a new statesman" and there the matter lay.. Trump's reaction of course was entirely the opposite, and whether you agree with him or not, it was completely his call to make.

If Darroch decided to wait to see if he would be "endorsed", by Boris or whoever, that shows poor judgement on his part in my view. Once it was obvious that the White House were going to black-ball him, he should have fallen on his sword and resigned immediately.

2. Looking at the leak itself, it will be fascinating to learn the source. If it's not a state-sponsored hack, which I wouldn't rule out (because it was obviously a long term effort over a couple of years; those emails were supposed to self-delete after 3 months), it's got to be an internal leak, a Bradley Manning / Julian Assange scenario, and that has to be an offence under the Official Secrets Act. I cannot see anyone handling those emails as not having signed the Official Secrets Act, can you?

So I think it is entirely right that the Met's Counter-Terrorism unit have been called in to investigate, and I don't have any truck with George Osborne and the other newspaper editors warning of dark and perilous times over the Freedom of the Press. Freedom of the Press should not be an overarching right, it has been abused by the press too often (Cliff Richard, etc.). What do you think?

[Workingman]

An ambassador, from and to any country, has to be able to analyse and dissect the administration of that country openly and truthfully with his or her team. That is part of the job in order for diplomacy to run smoothly. The memos, minutes, briefings and arguments and whatever was said in those meetings must stay confidential, even secret, whether they were / are supportive or critical of the administration. Darroch, therefore, was doing his job.

It therefore follows that whoever leaked any of that information was acting against the ambassador, the country they represent (UK) and possibly the country to which they are sent as ambassador (USA). The people making the leaks need to be found and dealt with, and quickly, and I would like to see the UK and US working on this together. It does not have to be one of 'ours' or one of 'theirs' doing the leaks it could be agents for a third country trying to break a solid alliance.

Having said that I do think that Darroch and our government were pretty stupid to rely on the email protocol for such 'discussions'. Anyone would think it is super secure, or maybe they could have asked Hilary C....

To me all this BoJo, Hunt, press freedom stuff is just deflection.

[Kaz]

2. Looking at the leak itself, it will be fascinating to learn the source. If it's not a state-sponsored hack, which I wouldn't rule out (because it was obviously a long term effort over a couple of years; those emails were supposed to self-delete after 3 months), it's got to be an internal leak, a Bradley Manning / Julian Assange scenario, and that has to be an offence under the Official Secrets Act. I cannot see anyone handling those emails as not having signed the Official Secrets Act, can you?

So I think it is entirely right that the Met's Counter-Terrorism unit have been called in to investigate, and I don't have any truck with George Osborne and the other newspaper editors warning of dark and perilous times over the Freedom of the Press. Freedom of the Press should not be an overarching right, it has been abused by the press too often (Cliff Richard, etc.). What do you think?

Well I have to tell you, that as an ex-employee of an establishment about 7 miles up the road, Mick said almost exactly this!

[cromwell]

Pretty obviously an internal leak, but threatening the press for publishing it? No thanks.
Also, I thought it was supposed to be the "diplomatic" service?
There was nothing diplomatic about Darroch"s language and once you put that stuff in an email, your career is in the hands of anyone who reads it, and apparently there is more to come.
The man's an idiot.

[medsec222]

I was thinking along those lines myself. Isn't a diplomat supposed to be diplomatic. How hard can that be.

[Kaz]

Sorry but what Frank said in the first paragraph of his post is absolutely right! He described the ambassador's remit correctly! His job is to protect our interests, and whilst he is expected to be "diplomatic" in public, not in private communication. He's a diplomat, not a poodle! This leak has serious implications, and is quite rightly being pursued by the police.

Edit: The communication will have been encrypted, so whoever leaked this HAS broken the Official Secrets Act, and deserves a long prison sentence.

[Workingman]

Of course, outwardly, a diplomat must be diplomatic - that's the job description, but behind closed doors?

That's where the diplomats and the diplomatic service have to define what might or might not be 'diplomatic' to do or say so as not to offend the host country yet to still work with it. Some of those discussions will be, shall we say, 'robust', and for that reason their details should remain hush-hush. To put some of those details, including verbatim quotes, into emails is about as stupid as stupid gets.

The problem is that Westminster, the Civil Service, the Diplomatic service and other services are bubbles. Those working within them all seem to think that everyone on the outside also thinks and works like them and are ever so polite and trustworthy. Do these people actually believe that in all the embassies in London all the foreign delegations are sat round telling themselves how wonderful our government is or that we are not doing our level best to find out what they are really thinking?

They all need a good dose of the real world and if that means a police investigation, as Kaz says, then so be it.

[TheOstrich]

Well it looks like the DM has published further leaked emails despite police warnings, this time saying that Darroch reckoned Trump canned the Iranian nuclear deal purely to spite Obama, and The Times is suggesting the Brexit Party is complicit in the leak as their Chairman is in a relationship with the DM journalist involved.

So it is all hotting up - but I can't for the life of me see what the Brexiteers would possibly gain in creating a rift between the UK and the USA …..

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-48978334

[cromwell]

The Times is suggesting the Brexit Party is complicit in the leak as their Chairman is in a relationship with the DM journalist involved.

Sounds like more work for the lawyers. Opinion isn't fact and you need evidence. Arron Banks is suing the journalist Carole Cadwalladr for some of her recent statements and I reckon there will be more writs flying around soon.

[Kaz]

Ossie, think about who is Foreign Secretary now and therefore the person with whom it might be said the buck stops now, and who was Foreign Secretary before him. Both men now fighting to be PM. Who might possibly want to put the current FS ie Hunt, in a bad light? I smell a rat. A rat with a really bad haircut.