A tech-savvy public demands more transparency from government, and that foreign ministries can do a lot more to open up. Behind-the-scenes negotiations will always remain a vital part of the job - Fletcher mentions the recent Iran nuclear deal and the BelfastAgreement as examples - “but we do need to explain to people that that’s what we’re there for, and that it’s going on.”

On 31 July 2015, Tom Fletcher, the outgoing British ambassador to Lebanon, signed off with an open letter on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office website to the country he had served in for four years, titled “So . . . Yalla, Bye”. [...] The blog went viral and generated much discussion in Lebanon.