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The Bunker – News without the nonsense

Daily: LITTLE ENGLAND vs GLOBAL BRITAIN – with ex-ambassador Peter Westmacott

The Bunker – News without the nonsense

Podmasters

News, Government, Politics, Society & Culture

4.61K Ratings

🗓️ 3 March 2021

⏱️ 32 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Just how global can Britain be if we’re becoming ever-more insular after Brexit? Naomi Smith talks to Peter Westmacott, former ambassador to Turkey, France and the USA, about the hidden prejudices that influence international relations, whether the advent of Biden will turn back the tide of populist nationalism, and his new book They Call It Diplomacy.  “A French colleague once asked me point-blank, Why do you English hate us so much? I don’t believe we do – but there is definitely a Little Englander mindset.”  “There was an old Iranian joke that if you hold up Khomeini’s beard you’d see MADE IN ENGLAND underneath.”  “Leaving the EU was never a legitimate way of dealing with immigration from places outside the EU.” “I remember saying Be very careful when you call a referendum because you might get an answer that’s nothing to do with the question on the ballot papers.” Presented by Naomi Smith. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers: Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic. Logo and branding by Mark Taylor. Music: Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Robin Leeburn. The Bunker is a Podmasters production See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

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look after theirs with dental life. Pick up dental life in the pet food aisle. Hello and welcome back to the bunker daily with me Naomi Smith.

1:11.7

With all the rhetoric around global Britain, aliens visiting from Mars

1:16.8

could be forgiven for thinking that the UK has never previously

1:19.7

bothered to engage much with the rest of the world and too often it's a phrase that is used in the context

1:25.2

of promoting British nativism rather than using our soft power on the world stage

1:30.7

to promote internationalism and cooperation between nations.

1:35.0

Today I'm joined by a particularly distinguished guest Peter West McCott to discuss his new book, They Call It, Diplomacy, which charts his four decade-long career with the Foreign

1:45.2

Office, during which time he served as British Ambassador to three countries, was a deputy

1:50.0

private secretary to the Prince of Wales and held numerous other positions across the globe.

1:55.4

Like many of you listening at home he is a self-proclaimed internationalist and Europhile and his book covers

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