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0 e•gri embassies are a liability, and not the alY from the aspect of public safety: di Foreign Office also considers it I Plornatically expedient to allow foreign ',.egations to flout listed building legislation. lAtte Chinese were allowed to demolish their codaM embassy in Portland Place, which no
been or private individual would have Butted peritted to do; the East Germans been or private individual would have Butted peritted to do; the East Germans
thmeirs in Belgrave Square. We sArselves of course — in the shape of the the ---- clgutted the Iranian Embassy. Given 1;angerous and ungentlemanly state of 1'e. rnational diplomacy, other fine London lidings are at risk. The sad fact is that very few foreign powers can today be trusted with an historic building or ought to be permitted to occupy one. Certainly the Libyans should never have been allowed to use a beautiful mid-18th-century house in St James's Square for the 'Bureau': what was the Foreign Office thinking of? Other nations are more sensible and concentrate embassies into diplomatic ghettoes where they can do no harm either to people or to historic buildings. We should do the same. The solution is simple: Thamesmead, that nightmarish development beyond Woolwich which was the setting for A Clockwork Orange, should be cleared of its long-suffering inhabitants and dedicated to the diplomatic community. It can easily be policed and made secure, and people like the Libyans will feel happier in modern concrete surroundings. Buildings like No 5 St James's Square can then be used and enjoyed by the British. And as the Foreign Office has been directly and indirectly responsible for this danger and vandalism, it should be removed from the present dignified accommodation in Whitehall and replace the DHSS in the Elephant and Castle. There, in a concrete skyscraper of the 1960s, it will be closer to Thamesmead.
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