The Annual Summer Diplomatic party was organised by the Conservative Foreign and Commonwealth Council and took place in the Attlee room of the House of Lords. It enabled the socialising that fosters understanding both between government officials and in the longer term between the nations they represent.
Though most of the evening was given over to informal socialisation, there were a few exceptions these included a speech by Lord Howe and a musical performance by Henry Crawshay-Williams.
The speech was only short half jest about how to enjoy the evening including Lord Howe’s encouragement to “drink drink drink” and half reminded of the importance of socialising to nurturing international relations.
Included among its attendees were its patron and the for-mentioned speaker Lord Howe of Aberavon and his wife Baroness Howe of Idlicote, the Chairman Sir Ronald Halstead CBE, Vice Chairman Peter Friedman, Patron Lord Hurd of Westwell, Lord Howell of Guildford, Melisaa Crawshay-Williams Honorary Researcher, as well as the High Commissioners from Mauritius, Sri Lanka, Malawi, Bangladesh, Uganda, India, Barbados and Ambassadors for Ethiopia, Honduras, The Czech Republic, El Salvador, Oman, Guatemala, Yemen, Cuba, Montenegro, Jordan, Dominican Republic, Bahrain, Panama, Moldova, North Korea, Bulgaria, Equatorial Guinea, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Belarus, Macedonia, Mongolia, South Korea, Luxembourg, Ireland, Bolivia and Colombia.
Oliver Wright (reporter)
Henry Crawshay-Willams provided musical entertainment singing Ave Maria and Panis Angelicus.