Hello and welcome to the political party. This episode features Arthur Snell, the UK's

former High Commissioner Mr. Trinidad and Tobago. He also served in Iraq and Afghanistan in Yemen

and worked on the prevent strategy. So there is so much detail that he gives us that he's incredible.

The insight into the diplomatic world of serving in these countries in a diplomatic role at the time that he did in the places that he did have given him a unique insight, Britain's role in the world for positive and for negative.

Britain's imperial past, he gave us so much, it was brilliant and he's just such a fascinating bloat. And it's highly political but also in many ways not political.

So it's a great mixture of both and a view of politics that is close enough but with distance to give it a different analysis.

So it's so good that I mean it might word you really what he's the sort of person that should be doing a kind of 10 part series on radio for.

And I mean that's a common really hard to understand a silent part stretch but that is I mean that as a real compliment that he should be

and the fronting stuff and educating people about what Britain does in the world what Britain has done and what the positives and negatives are and what his experience teachers as which in this next hour you are about to benefit from.

And once again thank you to everyone who's come to see me on tour. I think the political party shows are now sold out until the end of the year but you can see me doing my standup show breaking it through the gift shop around the country.

So I have two big dates in London at the underbelly on the south bank on the 22nd April bank on the Monday happy Easter and on the 25th of May on a Saturday London's Bloomsbury Theatre which is very exciting.

And in between I'll be doing Aberystwyth on the 10th of May. Oh, Solford Larry on the 9th of May. Edinburgh stand on the 12th of May. Glasgow stand on the 13th of May. Newcastle stand on the 14th of May.

The Chorley little theatre on the 18th of May and an extra day added at the Cambly Theatre on the 24th of May can get tickets for all those through my website mapford.com slash live.

Now you can also vote for the political party at the British podcast awards. They're running a listeners choice award and all you have to do is go to www.Britishpodcastawards.com slash vote and then just type in the political party and vote for it and get your friends.

So if you can as well. Thank you very much. Anyway, I will stop waffling and leave you in the wonderful hands of Arthur Snow.

I'm delighted to say that today on the political party I'm joined by Arthur Snow. Arthur, welcome to the show. Thank you, man.

I've got to know you through social media which is a wonderful tool for connecting people these days which sounds like a knockier pitch.

But I suppose the point I'm making is that Twitter can be a harsh place but actually it's still a place where you can meet interesting folk. So there's a positive to it and have become aware of your career which is a highly distinguished career.

Would you call it the diplomatic call? I mean, what's the official phrase? Well, I think a diplomatic call that makes it sound glamorous and career or a shame which wasn't always like that.

You've had a number of roles abroad for the UK government. I was always low to do things chronologically but you were a desk officer at the Foreign Commonwealth office in the Iraq group between 1998 and 2000.

So in between those two conflicts and very much in the run up to the second, firstly, what is the role of a desk officer at the Foreign Office?

Well, at that level, and it tends to be a job that you give to someone who's sort of wet behind the years and that was definitely my case.

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