Peter Ricketts was a British diplomat for more than forty years and rose to be the Permanent Under Secretary of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Head of the Diplomatic Service. He was also the UK’s first National Security Advisor, and Ambassador to France. He is now a member of the House of Lords, the Chairman of the Franco-British Council and Vice Chairman of the Royal United Services Institute. He is much in demand as a commentator on foreign affairs, appearing regularly on the BBC, Sky News, Times Radio and LBC. He has written for the FT, the Times and the New Statesman. His first book, Hard Choices: the making and unmaking of global Britain, was published in 2021.

'Well-researched and enthralling, Peter Ricketts brings the wartime Foreign Office to life. A fascinating account of Britain's too often neglected diplomats at war.' Tim Bouverie

• Chapters include:1 Witness to disaster: the Paris Embassy and the fall of France 2 The price of peace for our time: the build-up to war3 Adapting to survive: the war comes to Whitehall4 Breaking down the barriers: women in the Foreign Office5 Persuasion and propaganda: three women of the world6 Being met together: the Atlantic Charter and the outlines of a new international order7 Cheerful energy: eight months of lockdown in Tokyo 8 Keeping Spain neutral: diplomats and spies in wartime Madrid9 Running risks in Rome: Francis d’Arcy Osborne’s four years in the Vatican10 A walk in the Russian woods: Archibald Clark Kerr and the courting of Stalin11 Shaping a better world: Gladwyn Jebb and the United Nations plan12 Picking up the pieces: de Gaulle, Churchill and the making of an ally13 Risking a false prospectus: Yalta and the limits of diplomacy14 The last hard yards: from San Francisco to Potsdam15 Winning the peace: the Foreign Office and the post-war world

Peter Ricketts was a British diplomat for more than forty years and rose to be the Permanent Under Secretary of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Head of the Diplomatic Service. He was also the UK’s first National Security Advisor, and Ambassador to France. He is now a member of the House of Lords, the Chairman of the Franco-British Council and Vice Chairman of the Royal United Services Institute. He is much in demand as a commentator on foreign affairs, appearing regularly on the BBC, Sky News, Times Radio and LBC. He has written for the FT, the Times and the New Statesman. His first book, Hard Choices: the making and unmaking of global Britain, was published in 2021.

'Well-researched and enthralling, Peter Ricketts brings the wartime Foreign Office to life. A fascinating account of Britain's too often neglected diplomats at war.' Tim Bouverie

• Chapters include:1 Witness to disaster: the Paris Embassy and the fall of France 2 The price of peace for our time: the build-up to war3 Adapting to survive: the war comes to Whitehall4 Breaking down the barriers: women in the Foreign Office5 Persuasion and propaganda: three women of the world6 Being met together: the Atlantic Charter and the outlines of a new international order7 Cheerful energy: eight months of lockdown in Tokyo 8 Keeping Spain neutral: diplomats and spies in wartime Madrid9 Running risks in Rome: Francis d’Arcy Osborne’s four years in the Vatican10 A walk in the Russian woods: Archibald Clark Kerr and the courting of Stalin11 Shaping a better world: Gladwyn Jebb and the United Nations plan12 Picking up the pieces: de Gaulle, Churchill and the making of an ally13 Risking a false prospectus: Yalta and the limits of diplomacy14 The last hard yards: from San Francisco to Potsdam15 Winning the peace: the Foreign Office and the post-war world

Peter Ricketts was a British diplomat for more than forty years and rose to be the Permanent Under Secretary of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Head of the Diplomatic Service. He was also the UK’s first National Security Advisor, and Ambassador to France. He is now a member of the House of Lords, the Chairman of the Franco-British Council and Vice Chairman of the Royal United Services Institute. He is much in demand as a commentator on foreign affairs, appearing regularly on the BBC, Sky News, Times Radio and LBC. He has written for the FT, the Times and the New Statesman. His first book, Hard Choices: the making and unmaking of global Britain, was published in 2021.

'Well-researched and enthralling, Peter Ricketts brings the wartime Foreign Office to life. A fascinating account of Britain's too often neglected diplomats at war.' Tim Bouverie

• Chapters include:1 Witness to disaster: the Paris Embassy and the fall of France 2 The price of peace for our time: the build-up to war3 Adapting to survive: the war comes to Whitehall4 Breaking down the barriers: women in the Foreign Office5 Persuasion and propaganda: three women of the world6 Being met together: the Atlantic Charter and the outlines of a new international order7 Cheerful energy: eight months of lockdown in Tokyo 8 Keeping Spain neutral: diplomats and spies in wartime Madrid9 Running risks in Rome: Francis d’Arcy Osborne’s four years in the Vatican10 A walk in the Russian woods: Archibald Clark Kerr and the courting of Stalin11 Shaping a better world: Gladwyn Jebb and the United Nations plan12 Picking up the pieces: de Gaulle, Churchill and the making of an ally13 Risking a false prospectus: Yalta and the limits of diplomacy14 The last hard yards: from San Francisco to Potsdam15 Winning the peace: the Foreign Office and the post-war world