Inside the Foreign Office

Episode
Ep2 - Brave New World
Broadcast Info
2018 (58 mins)
Description
As diplomats prepare for the post-Brexit world, film-maker Michael Waldman eavesdrops on uninhibited discussions in Whitehall, in far-flung embassies in Nigeria and Mongolia and on the Foreign Secretary’s RAF plane around Europe. Senior ambassadors are summoned back to London to discuss how to make ‘Global Britain’ a reality after the UK leaves the European Union. As the chief civil servant, Sir Simon McDonald has the responsibility to advise whoever is the Foreign Secretary - and to rally his assembled staff for the difficult task ahead. We join the Europe Director, Caroline Wilson, with then Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson on their whistle-stop tour from RAF Northolt to Lisbon and Paris as they try to shore up support - and disarm antipathy - in EU capitals. Trade with Commonwealth countries will become all the more important. In Lagos the traditional Queen’s Birthday Party is an opportunity to make connections with the vibrant characters in Nigerian business. And markets that might seem obscure must also be pursued. Catherine Arnold, Her Majesty’s Ambassador in Mongolia - dubbed the Bridget Jones of the Foreign Office - manages the occasional break to ride enormous long-haired camels, but she has to leave no stone unturned - including meeting the President, encouraging a British company at the annual Mongolian fashion show and visiting a huge 10 billion dollar Rio-Tinto mine near the Chinese border - to make sure the UK is well placed to get a slice of any future action in this vast, sparsely-populated but resource-rich country.
Genre
International Development; Law; Government

How to cite this record

The Open University, "Inside the Foreign Office". https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ou/search/index.php/prog/232635 (Accessed 09 Jan 2025)