Thailand, Canada etc. - the British Diplomatic View

Letters reveal candid views of British diplomats
Canadians are deeply unimpressive and Thais are commonly lewd, envoys say in notes sent to Britain's Foreign Office over the last five decades

London — The Associated Press
Published on Sunday, Oct. 18, 2009 11:10AM EDT

Last updated on Sunday, Oct. 18, 2009 12:04PM EDT


It's not exactly diplomatic — details of what British ambassadors really think about their foreign hosts were disclosed Sunday following the release of a series of frank, and sometimes outright rude, letters to London from embassies around the world.

Canadians are deeply unimpressive, Nigerians maddening, Nicaraguans often dishonest and Thai's commonly lewd, British diplomats claim in notes sent to Britain's Foreign Office over the last five decades.

The letters, disclosed to the BBC under Freedom of Information laws, also reveal how diplomats were bored by endless rounds of cocktail parties, and exasperated by the British government's failure to shake off its stuffy image overseas.

Until 2006, ambassadors retiring from their post or moving country traditionally sent a valedictory dispatch to London, offering their candid personal assessment of the country in which they had served.

Lord Moran, high commissioner in Ottawa, Canada, between 1981 and 1984, claimed Canadians had limited talents.

“Anyone who is even moderately good at what they do — in literature, the theater, skiing or whatever — tends to become a national figure. And anyone who stands out at all from the crowd tends to be praised to the skies and given the Order of Canada at once,” Lord Moran wrote in his letter, according to files released to the BBC.


Lord Moran's letter about Canada

For more letters, visit the BBC website

In a 1967 memo, Roger Pinsent, Britain's outgoing ambassador to Nicaragua, was scathing in his criticism.

“There is, I fear, no question that the average Nicaraguan is one of the most dishonest, unreliable, violent and alcoholic of the Latin Americans,” Mr. Pinsent wrote.

Two years later, David Hunt — then high commissioner to Nigeria — said the West African country's leaders had “a maddening habit of always choosing the course of action which will do the maximum damage to their own interests.”

“Africans as a whole are not only not averse to cutting off their nose to spite their face; they regard such an operation as a triumph of cosmetic surgery,” Mr. Hunt claimed in his letter.

Anthony Rumbold, Britain's ambassador to Thailand from 1965 to 1967, mocked his hosts for an apparent lack of culture. “They have no literature, no painting and only a very odd kind of music; their sculpture, ceramics and dancing are borrowed from others, and their architecture is monotonous and interior decoration hideous,” Mr. Rumbold wrote.

“Nobody can deny that gambling and golf are the chief pleasures of the rich, and that licentiousness is the main pleasure of them all,” he said.

Other diplomats used their letters to criticize British bureaucracy, and the sometimes dull world of international relations.

“One of the great failures of the diplomatic service has been its inability to cast off its image as bowler-hatted, pinstriped and chinless with a fondness for champagne,” David Gore-Booth wrote in 1999, as he prepared to leave a posting in Delhi.

“Indeed cocktail parties are death as, I am sure 99 percent of diplomatic service colleagues would agree,” Mr. Gore-Booth wrote, bemoaning the countless receptions ambassadors are expected to host, or attend.

The Foreign Office ended the tradition of valedictory letters in 2006, after a message from Ivor Roberts — Britain's departing ambassador to Italy — was leaked to the media.

Mr. Roberts criticized the ministry's management culture, and fondness for buzzwords. “Can it be that in wading through the plethora of business plans, capability reviews ... and other excrescences of the management age, we have indeed forgotten what diplomacy is all about,” he wrote.


Zach Swan 10/18/2009 5:58:39 PM
Let's be perfectly clear: the statement "Canadians are deeply unimpressive" was not made by Lord Moran. A quick read of his actual text reveals he found "the majority of Canadian ministers are unimpressive". He was talking about the calibre of our politicians (hard to argue with him on that point), not the general calibre of the populace as that text would indicate. In other sections of the text, including his references to Canadian business leaders, he was rather complimentary. I take issue with the articles distortion of the facts. 1 0 Report Abuse

BumanHeing 10/18/2009 5:55:00 PM
I think they were all right with their descriptions of us and others. We are a boring people and we do give The Order of Canada to just about anyone who has done anything in this country. We're boring to others but we find ourselves interesting and that's what's important, not what some snobby aristocrat had to say 4 decades ago. 1 0 Report Abuse

Fake_Name 10/18/2009 5:44:40 PM
Anthony S - "American Culture? Isn't that an oxymoron? The US (like Canada) is a mosiac of cultures, reflecting the origins of its immigrants. But thanks for confirming the American stereotype, Andy."


Nonsense - America has plenty of cultural inventions all its own.

Some of them are even good.

But I think most of us would rather they had never brought reality tv to the world. 3 0 Report Abuse

Silver Cyclops 10/18/2009 5:33:36 PM
Well said, UWO. 0 0 Report Abuse

Old Curmudgeon 10/18/2009 5:21:39 PM
Sounds like Lord Moron had been left in the field a bit too long. Judging by his comments, I'm sure he was probably a bit of a problem and an embarassment to his employer. Not that he's wrong about our propensity to fail to recognize excellence and our unerring ability to reward mediocity. But the era of Colonel Blimp ended sometime earlier, leaving him adrift and anachronistic. 3 4Report Abuse

10/18/2009 11:22:36 AM
“Canadians are deeply unimpressive
Lord Moran, high commissioner in Ottawa, Canada, between 1981 and 1984, claimed Canadians had limited talents.
“Anyone who is even moderately good at what they do — in literature, the theater, skiing or whatever — tends to become a national figure. And anyone who stands out at all from the crowd tends to be praised to the skies and given the Order of Canada at once,”

Hilarious and accurate too! 96 9Report Abuse

DRVRAGE 10/18/2009 11:26:38 AM
While having a critical eye for a nation's faults can be helpful, it seems that the British Ambassadors are just mean and petty.

It is all too easy for us to pick apart Britain for having a nanny-state of imbeciles unqualified to hold hunting/sporting arms or pointy knives. They must have beer glasses constructed of safety glass because their drunken passtime of beating each other senseless. Uneducated, ill spoken crime ridden masses whose sole claim to riches is a banking establishment that is crumbling around them as they have no other talents or resources to speak of. Their glory was of a past age that was not glorious, but a genocidal run at a global empire at the expense of millions and millions of lives. They were not more civilized, they were technologically superior butchers who valued human life far below their petty riches.

Britain can be as critical of Canada and the world as they like. 62 23Report Abuse

spaceman 10/18/2009 11:27:35 AM
You have to admit he was and is still right about Canadians though. Literature, theatre and film is bad bad bad and yet we deify anybody. Music is another thing. Pop music anyway. 63 6Report Abuse

Oderus 10/18/2009 11:29:05 AM
I'd like to see the actual letters myself, not just the pieces they want shown.

If those quotes are the worst they found, this is just another non-issue. 24 12Report Abuse

Hee Hoo Sai 10/18/2009 11:30:05 AM
France and England were the "parents" of Canada. Apparently we have inherited some of "Britannia's" genes, particularly the traits apparent to even an ambassador. 33 6Report Abuse

mtnrat 10/18/2009 11:38:11 AM
I don't mind when people state the truth. We need a little more of that. 85 7Report Abuse

GeorgeBrown​III 10/18/2009 11:44:21 AM
As long as we accept their queen to be our head of state they may be free to call us whatever they choose to. 28 15Report Abuse

James McDougal 10/18/2009 11:44:24 AM
I would agree that we give out the Order of Canada a little too frequently, but when it comes to the arts, which Lord Moran mentioned, Canada is actually quite impressive and is a force to be reckoned with on the world stage. I think we just give the Order of Canada to too many people who have done just one good deed that is impressive, but then again, who is he to judge how we reward our citizens? At no point have we ever said it was the most prestigious of all awards. It is simply about recognizing outstanding citizens.

What did Lord Moran do that was so impressive? Become an ambassador for the UK? According to some of his colleagues, that is a rather mediocre job. 38 9Report Abuse

Pop 10/18/2009 11:45:39 AM
megalomania: a delusional mental disorder that is marked by feelings of personal omnipotence and grandeur 14 8Report Abuse

I want my UWO tuition back 10/18/2009 11:47:13 AM
For the record, I'm sure that we gave the Order of Canada to Margaret Atwood, but she isn't as the former ambassador said, even moderately good at what she does. 45 14Report Abuse