A FUTURE AMBASSADOR

Hokitika Guardian, 7 January 1930, Page 2

A FUTURE AMBASSADOR

SIR ROBERT VANSITTART. LONDON, November 21. Sir Robert Vansittart’s appointment as Permanent Under-Secretarv for Foreign Affairs in succession to Sir Ronald Lindsay, who goes to Washington, is regarded as a prelude to still further promotion. In all probability he will be found before long in an Ambassadorial post. His advance is an exception to the general experience that .promotion is lost by being seconded for outside work. It happened, however, that Sir Robert, by being attached to the Prime Minister keeps a close watch on foreign affairs and on Foreign Office appointments. Sir Robert became private secretary to Mr Baldwin, and Mr MacDonald confirmed him in the appointment and raised him to the rank of Assistant Under-Secretarv, though ho never carried out the duties of the latter post. For many years he worked in close contact with Lord Curzon. undertaking with great success the publicity work of the Foreign Office at a time when it was important to remove the veil of secrecy from many aspects of policy. Sir Robert Vansittart is one of our litei'ary diplomatists, for he has written plays and poems, and even a novel. His fiction produced a good deal of controversy. It purported to be a story of a hitherto unknown son of Charles 11., who, after being brought up obscurely in Belgium, appeared at tire English Court. Historical experts di-puted whether Charles 11. ever had such a son, and Sir Robert then admitted that the character was a creation of the imagination.