ABSTRACT
At first sight it might seem contradictory to include Lord Lloyd of Dolobran among the ranks of those on the fringes of diplomacy. Lloyd was a man whose contacts, political and social, were international in range and whose correspondence suggests an effortless engagement with the elites not only of the United Kingdom, but also of the European and colonial worlds. Biography and recent scholarship on Lloyd has identified the moral and Christian foundations of his political and imperial views. Lloyd was undoubtedly uneasy in a formal political role, especially in the Commons during his early career as a Unionist Member of Parliament, and he believed he could not achieve his aims from the inside of politics. Council work gave Lloyd another cause to champion and more dangers to warn against; he could now point to solid evidence of the decline in British prestige in countries bordering the Mediterranean.
