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Available for over a year

Matthew Parris marks the passing of the valedictory despatch, the traditional final telegram home in which British ambassadors could let their hair down and settle a few scores. The series features newly declassified Foreign Office files alongside interviews with the diplomats who wrote them. The privations of embassy life. In their valedictories, diplomats recount the hardships of foreign service - rat infested rooms, defunct plumbing and death threats.