Diplomacy

"In my time, there was no training to be a diplomat. I think we had a half-day induction course and went straight into a department. They gave us a guide on where to sit at dinner and a copy of Diplomacy , which I still have. It’s a rather wonderful book but it’s very old-school. It was written in 1939 but we had the 1949 version. It says in the preface: ‘Since this book was first published, many serious events have occurred’. Quite a British understatement. Nicolson distinguishes between foreign policy, which he says is for politicians, and negotiation, which he says is for diplomatists. He starts with the Greeks and goes all the way through. He claims it was Machiavelli’s fault that diplomacy got a bad name. People misunderstood The Prince , particularly in Britain, and the word ‘Machiavellian’ became an insult that led people to think diplomats were shifty and dishonest. He points out that Henry Wotton, one of James I’s ambassadors, joked that ‘diplomats were honest men sent abroad to lie for their country’. The King was so shocked that he sacked him. Nicolson has very wise advice on negotiation. He says you must be patient, precise, tell the truth and not have too big an ego. I was negotiating in Northern Ireland in 2004, just after the collapse of the peace process between the Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Fein. I was negotiating with Sinn Fein in a monastery in west Belfast. Everyone thought we shouldn’t be talking to them but I’d flown over to see them. I was out on a limb. I was met by a senior official in the Northern Ireland office who told me that the biggest bank robbery in British history had taken place the night before and that ‘the dogs were on the street’. I knew Sinn Fein had done it. I felt like going straight back to London and giving up. But I managed to put my ego to one side and told myself that I must keep going. I think Nicolson is right – you need to keep your personal feelings out of it. He also writes about the danger of losing your temper. The one time I lost mine was when we were talking with the Orange Order about the Drumcree march. One of the loyalist negotiators started insulting Tony. I must have been extremely tired because I leapt from my seat, leaned across the table and grabbed him by his lapels. Tony pushed me back into my seat and told me to stop being stupid. He came up to me afterwards and said: ‘Jonathan, you’ve got to learn you must never lose your temper except on purpose!’ That taught me a good lesson."