Mandarin leaves a sour taste

IN HIS new job as Permanent Secretary at the Department for International Development, Matthew Rycroft must tackle two massive disasters: the genocidal killing of the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar and the impending famine in the Yemen. However, I fear he will duck the challenge. In his previous job at the UN, he watched on as world leaders did little to stop the two tragedies. Also, it must never be forgotten that once, as a Downing Street official, Mr Rycroft wrote a notorious memo which showed that Tony Blair believed that war with Saddam was ‘inevitable’ eight months before the West’s invasion and that Blair was committed to support the U.S. Let’s hope the mandarin is not derelict in his duty again.