17 DECEMBER 1954, Page 7

Biting the Hand, that Feeds Them .

Members of Parliament have a right to criticise the official cocktail parties given by the heads of HM diplomatic missions in foreign countries, as they have a right to criticise anything; but I feel bound to record my impression, based on a fairly wide experience of these functions in different parts of the world, that a substantial majority of them are arranged for the principal purpose of enabling itinerant MPs or Parliamentary delegations to meet the natives of the countries they are being paid to write newspaper articles about.