Not Quite the Diplomat, Sourced

The record

The book itself: what we can see of it

The only parts of the book’s own structure we could see are in library catalogue records. The record for the 2006 Penguin paperback lists its eleven chapters. Its cataloguing source is coded UKM, and we could not confirm which library that code names. The record is held at the Internet Archive.^LRC

Two of these titles match what the reviewers say. Lever names the chapter on national sovereignty and the descent of conservatism, and he uses the phrase “strong nouns but weak verbs” for the EU’s habit of declaring rather than acting, which is chapter 6’s title.^R The record also notes an index, illustrations and portraits, and text on the inside covers.

Limits. This is the chapter list of the 2006 paperback, which the record calls a revised edition. A search of the 2005 first edition (below) finds every one of the eleven titles on 13 to 19 pages each, which is consistent with the titles running as page heads, so the first edition appears to use the same titles. We have not seen its contents page. The US edition, Cousins and Strangers, is a revised edition of 309 pages, and its chapters may differ.^LC

Searching the 2005 first edition, without reading it

HathiTrust holds a scan of the Allen Lane first edition from the University of Michigan’s library. Because the book is in copyright, it shows no text and no page numbers; it will only say how many pages contain a word or phrase.^HT On Oct 12, 2026 we ran that search, in Lawrence Ho’s own browser, for the words the reviewers quote. To test the test, we searched two words a 2005 book should not contain (“smartphone”, “Obama”) and one phrase made of two real words that should never occur together. All three returned no pages, so a match means something.

This is the strongest evidence on the page that the quoted passages are the book’s own words. It is still a count, not a reading: it cannot tell us what surrounds each phrase.

What we tried, to read any of the book itself

• Scanned copies. The Internet Archive holds scans of the 2005, 2006 and US editions. They are lent to signed-in readers only, and their text files refused us (HTTP 401). We did not try to get past that. A person can borrow a copy with their own account and check a passage against the page.
• The publisher’s sample. A search listed a “Read an Excerpt” section on Barnes & Noble’s page for the US edition, credited to its publisher. The address served the shop’s “not found” page when we fetched it on Oct 12, 2026 (corrected Oct 20, 2026; this line said the page showed no excerpt), so we have not seen it, and nothing on this page rests on it. It is sent to a person to open.
• Google Books. Its service refused our requests that day (HTTP 429, too many requests), so we could not check for a preview. To try again.
• Passages quoted by others. The four reviews above print short passages from the book. Those are the closest we have to its text, and the claims that rest on them are marked In the book · words quoted by a reviewer. The quotations in the Foreign Affairs review are from the revised US edition.

The author, at the time he wrote it

Only the offices that give the book its vantage point are listed, each from the record of the body that conferred it where we could open one. Nothing private is included, because nothing private bears on what the book argues.

Executive Summary

In one line: The whole in brief: what the book is, who wrote it, and the arguments every source agrees it makes.

Chris Patten wrote Not Quite the Diplomat after five years in Brussels as the European Union’s commissioner for external relations, in the Commission led by Romano Prodi.^ONot the book · a fact about the author, from Black Penguin presents the book as an account of what has happened to Britain, Europe and the world since 1997, written by someone close to events and newly freed from a diplomat’s restraint.^PBNot the book · the publisher’s description The publisher frames it around three questions: who the British think they are and want to be, how far Europe can expand and whether the European project is a mistake or Britain’s future, and whether a fractured Western alliance still has the time and will to shape the world before India and China rise.^PBNot the book · the publisher’s description

The reviewers agree on what the book is about. Martin Jacques, in the Guardian, reads it as the second part of Patten’s memoirs, following East and West, his book about governing Hong Kong, even though Patten avoids calling it a memoir. In Jacques’s reading, the recurring theme is the shift in American foreign policy under George W. Bush and what it means for Europe and the world.^GCIn the book · as Jacques describes it Stanley Hoffmann, reviewing the US edition in Foreign Affairs, describes a blend of autobiography, political analysis and policy advice, full of anecdotes and portraits of public figures.^FCIn the book · as Hoffmann (US edition) describes it Ian Black, in the Observer, calls it a vivid inside picture of how the EU works at the top and the best book about the EU written in English in many years.^OCNot the book · Black’s judgment

Three arguments run through every source we opened:

1. Britain belongs in Europe. The EU is a group of nation-states working together, not a superstate, and Britain should commit to it fully.^{S O}In the book · as Black describes itNot the book · Patten’s interviewWording found in the 2005 first edition: “country called Europe”
2. America’s unilateral turn damages everyone, including America. Patten condemns the neoconservative direction of US policy and the invasion of Iraq, and he argues that Tony Blair’s support for the war hurt Britain’s standing in Europe and weakened the relationship it was meant to protect.^{G R F S}In the book · words quoted by JacquesIn the book · words quoted by Hoffmann (US edition)In the book · as Lever describes itNot the book · Patten’s interviewWording found in the 2005 first edition: Jacques’s Blair passage and Hoffmann’s “worst service”
3. The rise of China and India is an opportunity, if the West draws them into solving global problems. Hoffmann adds that Patten also warns about revolts by people who feel alienated or dispossessed.^{F S}In the book · as Hoffmann (US edition) describes itIn the book · words quoted by Hoffmann (US edition)Not the book · Patten’s interviewWording found in the 2005 first edition: both “revolt” phrases

The reviewers disagree more about quality than about content. Jacques called the Europe section “the most tedious section of the book” and faulted the book for leaving out empire, colonialism and race.^GNot the book · Jacques’s judgment Denis MacShane, then a Labour member of Parliament and a former minister for Europe, listed British policy failures of the 1980s and 1990s that the book does not discuss.^INot the book · MacShane’s judgment Sir Paul Lever, writing for the Royal United Services Institute, praised the cool tone but doubted that Patten’s call for a return to consensus-based American leadership was realistic.^RNot the book · Lever’s judgment

Experiences

In one line: What the author lived through or saw first-hand that the book draws on, as the sources report it.

The reviews describe several experiences that the book draws on. Each is reported here as the reviewer reported it.

An American education

According to Jacques, Patten opens with his own history with the United States. His father was a publisher of early American pop singers. After Oxford, Patten went to the United States on a well-funded scholarship and later worked on John Lindsay’s campaign for mayor of New York. Jacques argues that this story is typical of Britain’s political class and helps explain its affinity for America.^GCIn the book · as Jacques describes itNot the book · Jacques’s own argumentLindsay is named in the 2005 first edition MacShane dates Patten’s first trip to America to 1965, after his student days at Balliol College.^ICUnclear · the review does not say whether the book gives this date

Five years in Brussels

Black writes that Patten joined the Prodi Commission with firm views about globalization. Nothing he saw there persuaded him that a single country called Europe or a European superstate was taking shape. Black says the book offers entertaining indiscretions about those five years. The French, and President Jacques Chirac in particular, come in for criticism; Black adds that the French blocked Patten from succeeding Prodi as Commission president. The book also criticizes Tony Blair’s convictions and American neoconservatives.^OCIn the book · as Black describes itNot the book · Black’s own fact: the French veto MacShane notes that Patten is kind to fellow Conservatives, rude about Labour ministers, and pulls few punches with Dick Cheney, Jacques Chirac or Ariel Sharon.^ICIn the book · as MacShane describes it

Patten describes his diplomacy with Javier Solana, according to Black; Lever identifies Solana as the Council’s High Representative for foreign and security policy.^RIn the book · as Black describes itNot the book · Lever’s description of Solana The book points to progress in the Balkans, where the prospect of EU membership pulled countries toward reform, and to European relations with Russia that it calls too deferential, and it faults Europe’s record in defense and security.^OCIn the book · as Black describes itIn the book · words quoted by BlackWording found in the 2005 first edition: “shorts muddy”Not found: the first half of Black’s line, so his wording may differ MacShane goes further and credits Patten and Solana with keeping Macedonia from pulling the Balkans into a new war in 2001 and with persistent work for an Israeli-Palestinian peace. That credit is MacShane’s own assessment, not a description of the book.^ICNot the book · MacShane’s own assessment

Human rights and trade

MacShane reports that Patten tried to make human rights a condition of EU agreements with other countries, and that Patten admits the language rarely changed anyone’s behavior. Patten is appalled that European leaders would not raise Russia’s conduct in Chechnya, and he argues that the Arab world needs more open trade, more investment and better access to European markets.^ICIn the book · as MacShane describes it

An exchange with John Bolton

Black describes the book’s account of a conversation in which Patten urged John Bolton, whom Black identifies as the US ambassador to the United Nations, to use both incentives and pressure with Iran. As Black reports it, Bolton replied, “We don’t do carrots.” Black suggests that the exchange captures much of the book’s view of Washington at the time.^OCIn the book · words quoted by BlackWording found in the 2005 first edition

On the road with the book

Greg Lowe interviewed Patten by phone from Heathrow Airport while Patten was setting out on a publicity tour of Singapore and Hong Kong. Lowe’s framing has slips (it calls Hong Kong an island and places the European Parliament in Brussels), so we rely on the interview only for Patten’s own quoted words. The interview first ran in IHT ThaiDay in November 2005, according to the page that reposted it.^SBNot the book · Patten’s interview and its repost

Explanations

In one line: The book’s arguments: why, in the author’s view, things happened as they did, and what should be done.

This section summarizes the arguments the sources attribute to the book, grouped by subject.

Why Britain struggles with Europe

Jacques reports that Patten explains Britain’s uneasy relationship with Europe through national identity: a failure to face postwar decline, the reassurance of having won the Second World War, and an old habit of looking down on the continent. Patten urges Britain not to let its history trap it in self-regard.^GCIn the book · words quoted by JacquesWording found in the 2005 first edition: “claustrophobic self-regard”Not found: “who and what we think we are” Black adds that Patten sees the nation-state as the basis of most people’s identity, but argues that nations must do more together on problems too big for any one of them. Black notes, in his own words, how much the single market owes to Margaret Thatcher.^OCIn the book · as Black describes itNot the book · Black’s own remark on Thatcher In the interview, Patten describes the EU as a collection of nation-states, not a superstate, and says there is no European policy unless Britain, Germany and France work well together.^SBNot the book · Patten’s interview

What kind of European he is

Lever calls Patten a Euro-realist rather than a Europhile. Patten opposes moving more power to Brussels and accepts that no single European public exists. He argues that the Commission is no more corrupt or inefficient than a British government department, defends opening membership talks with Turkey, and criticizes European leaders who ignore public opinion. Lever adds that Patten sidesteps hard questions about the European Parliament, social policy and the size of the Commission.^RCIn the book · as Lever describes itNot the book · Lever’s labels and objections Hoffmann says Patten makes a strong case for including Turkey and for a union that is neither a superpower rival to the United States nor a junior partner to it.^FCIn the book · as Hoffmann (US edition) describes it

How the Conservatives lost their way on Europe

Lever singles out the chapter on national sovereignty and the Conservative Party as one of the book’s strongest. As Lever summarizes it, the Maastricht Treaty was not especially divisive inside the party at first; Black Wednesday, Britain’s forced exit from the Exchange Rate Mechanism, turned the party toward Euroscepticism, which Patten treats as a damaging illusion.^RCIn the book · as Lever describes itIn the book · words quoted by LeverChapter title confirmed by a library recordWording found in the 2005 first edition: “ruinous fantasy”

America after the Cold War

Lever describes Patten as an instinctive Atlanticist who is appalled by the neoconservative turn in American policy. Patten considers the invasion of Iraq misguided, criticizes Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib, and is harder on Vice President Cheney than on President Bush.^RCIn the book · as Lever describes it Jacques calls Patten merciless about the neoconservatives and a fierce critic of the war and of Britain’s part in it. Jacques also reports Patten’s warning that the gap between Europe and America may widen or persist, and that past unity across the Atlantic may come to look like a product of the Cold War.^GCIn the book · words quoted by JacquesWording found in the 2005 first edition Patten argues that Americans are not imperialists by nature. Jacques disagrees and cites the historian Niall Ferguson, who argues that America has been expansionist from the start.^GIn the book · words quoted by JacquesNot the book · Jacques’s rebuttalWording found in the 2005 first edition

On solutions, Hoffmann reports that Patten wants Washington to return to the kind of leadership it showed after the Second World War, and to engage far more on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, on environmental and development issues, and on reform of the United Nations.^FCIn the book · as Hoffmann (US edition) describes it In the interview, Patten argues that the best stance toward America lies roughly halfway between the positions of Paris and London.^SBNot the book · Patten’s interview

The special relationship

Patten tells Lowe that Blair’s version of the special relationship won Britain little influence in Washington and gave the Bush administration license to do as it pleased. A good ally, he argues, is not the same as a vassal.^SBNot the book · Patten’s interviewNot in the book: two of these interview phrases are not found in the first edition Black reports the book’s view that Britain, in the Iraq war, served mainly as a multilateral badge for American policy, and that in the Middle East Blair’s role became finding excuses for American inaction.^OCIn the book · words quoted by BlackWording found in the 2005 first edition: all three phrases

China, India and the open economy

Hoffmann writes that Patten sees the economic rise of China and India as an opportunity for the West.^FCIn the book · as Hoffmann (US edition) describes it In the interview, Patten says the West must recognize how much these countries have changed and bring them into global problem-solving and governance. He calls the Doha round of trade talks especially important for Asia, wants America and Europe to resist protectionism together, and names European farm protection and subsidies as a central problem.^SBNot the book · Patten’s interview Jacques reports Patten’s observation that China, like other authoritarian states in Asia, shows that an economy can grow without democracy. Jacques questions why that should surprise anyone, given how most industrial countries developed.^GCIn the book · words quoted by JacquesNot the book · Jacques’s rebuttalWording found in the 2005 first edition

Extractions

In one line: What a reader can take from the book, and what its critics say it leaves out.

What a reader can take from the book, according to the sources

• An insider’s account of how EU foreign policy was made during the Prodi Commission, with portraits of the people involved.^{O F EU}Not the book · our summary of the reviewers’ accounts
• A Conservative and lifelong friend of America arguing against the Iraq war and the unilateral turn in US policy, from inside the Atlantic tradition rather than outside it.^{G R}Not the book · our summary of the reviewers’ accounts
• A case for Britain in Europe built on national interest rather than enthusiasm for European integration.^{R S}Not the book · our summary of the reviewers’ accounts
• An early argument, made in 2005, for drawing China and India into global governance instead of treating their rise as a threat.^{F S}Not the book · our summary of the reviewers’ accounts

What the critics said it lacks

• History before 1900, empire and race. Jacques argues that modern Britain cannot be understood without the legacy of colonialism, and that the book largely leaves it out.^GNot the book · Jacques’s judgment of what is missing
• Tone. Jacques finds the Europe sections schoolmasterly at times, though leavened by wit.^GNot the book · Jacques’s judgment
• Britain’s own failures. MacShane lists what the book does not discuss: British support for apartheid, the use of overseas aid to boost arms sales, interference in the 1992 American election, and the rise of Euroscepticism under John Major. He also faults the Conservative government’s record in the Balkans in the 1990s.^INot the book · MacShane’s judgment of what is missing
• Realism about America. Lever doubts that a return to consensus-based American leadership is realistic.^RNot the book · Lever’s judgment MacShane argues that the task is to make Europe work, not to lament America.^INot the book · MacShane’s judgment
• Where Patten argued. Black wonders whether Patten would have done more for Europe by arguing its case in Britain than by working for it in Brussels.^ONot the book · Black’s judgment

Even the critics praised the writing. MacShane calls the book elegant, warm, clever and readable; Jacques calls Patten a persuasive and intelligent commentator; Hoffmann admires his wit and range.^{I G F}Not the book · the reviewers’ judgments

What was included, what was rejected, and why

Certainty scores, under Protocol 4 with R9

Recomputed on Oct 12, 2026 from the evidence recorded for each claim. Every source is now saved with its SHA-256 (10 points). The two-reviewer step has not been run, so its 15 points are unavailable to every claim. The scores were computed by hand; certainty.py, which Protocol 4 says must compute them, is not yet written.

Sourcing note

1. Opened, Oct 12, 2026, and opened again for version 2: the Penguin page; reviews by Martin Jacques (Guardian), Ian Black (Observer), Denis MacShane (Independent, partly behind a login wall), Sir Paul Lever (RUSI) and Stanley Hoffmann (Foreign Affairs, of the US edition); Greg Lowe’s interview (Spike Magazine); the Brookings Institution event page. Added in version 2: the European Commission’s archive of the 1999–2004 Commission; the UK Parliament members record; the University of Oxford’s announcement of Feb 05, 2024; the Open Library records for both editions. All opened by plain request except the Oxford page and the journal page, which needed a browser (rung 2). Each is saved with its SHA-256 in the source archive. Links are below.
2. Not opened, and why: the book itself (copyrighted, no access); Macmillan’s US page (it now says the book is no longer available); Jolyon Howorth’s review in Political Science Quarterly (paywall; sent to a person); the Library of Congress’s own catalogue page (built by script; we read the Library of Congress record in the copy held by the Internet Archive instead); any review in the Telegraph or the Spectator (none found).
3. How the sources were found: web searches on the title with “review” and the names of major British outlets, then the reference list of the book’s Wikipedia article, which we used only as a finding aid. Version 4 added a search of the 2005 first edition at HathiTrust. Version 3 added the Internet Archive’s catalogue records for the three editions, a search for a published excerpt, and Google Books. Version 2 added searches for US reviews (none found in the New York Times, the Washington Post or Kirkus), the Parliament members service, the Open Library ISBN service, Crossref for the journal review, and the Commission’s archive.
4. What the model was asked to do: summarize what the opened sources say about the book, attribute every claim, and paraphrase rather than quote, with one short exception. It was forbidden to add anything from memory about the book’s contents, chapters, or quotations.
5. What remains unconfirmed: the first edition’s page count (leaning 323; the HathiTrust record also says 323); the first edition’s contents page itself; what the US revision changed; every passage of the book that no review quotes; everything the reviewers did not mention, which is most of the book.

Sources

• PPenguin Books, Not Quite the Diplomat by Chris Patten, publisher’s page. Rung B. penguin.co.uk
• GMartin Jacques, “Review: Not Quite the Diplomat by Chris Patten,” The Guardian, Oct 08, 2005. Rung C. theguardian.com
• OIan Black, “Observer review: Not Quite the Diplomat by Chris Patten,” The Observer, Oct 16, 2005. (Version 1 gave Oct 15: the page shows 19.42 US Eastern time on Oct 15, which is 00.42 on Oct 16 in London.) Rung C. theguardian.com
• IDenis MacShane, “Not Quite the Diplomat, by Chris Patten,” The Independent, Sep 23, 2005. (Version 1 gave Sep 22: the page’s stamp is 23.00 UTC on Sep 22, which is midnight on Sep 23 in London.) Partly behind a login wall. Rung C. independent.co.uk
• RSir Paul Lever, review of Not Quite the Diplomat, Royal United Services Institute, Feb 22, 2006. Rung C. rusi.org
• FStanley Hoffmann, capsule review of Cousins and Strangers, Foreign Affairs, March/April 2006. Rung C. foreignaffairs.com
• SGreg Lowe, interview with Chris Patten, Spike Magazine (reposted Apr 09, 2008; first published in IHT ThaiDay, November 2005). Rung B for Patten’s own words, as reported. spikemagazine.com
• BRBrookings Institution, event page for Cousins and Strangers: America, Britain and Europe in a New Century, Friday Feb 03, 2006. Rung C. brookings.edu
• EUEuropean Commission, “The European Commission 1999-2004,” archive. Rung B for the Commission’s term. ec.europa.eu
• UKUK Parliament, members record for Lord Patten of Barnes (member 1136): seats, posts and peerage. Rung B. members.parliament.uk
• OXUniversity of Oxford, “Lord Patten of Barnes announces his retirement as Chancellor of the University of Oxford,” Feb 05, 2024. Rung B. ox.ac.uk
• OLOpen Library, edition records for the Allen Lane first edition (ISBN 0713998555) and the Penguin paperback (ISBN 9780141021447), and the work record for Cousins and Strangers. A catalogue anyone can edit, so it counts as one source, never as the publisher. Rung C. openlibrary.org
• PSQJolyon Howorth, review of Cousins and Strangers, Political Science Quarterly 121, no. 4 (Winter 2006): 708–709. Citation only; the text is behind a paywall. doi.org
• HTHathiTrust Digital Library, Not quite the diplomat, Allen Lane, 2005, ix, 323 p., [16] p. of plates (University of Michigan copy, volume mdp.39015063323227), search-only. Searched Oct 12, 2026; our counts are saved with their SHA-256. catalog.hathitrust.org
• LRLibrary catalogue records held by the Internet Archive: the 2006 Penguin paperback (cataloguing source coded UKM; contents note, “[Rev. ed.]”, ix, 329 pages, [16] pages of plates) and the 2005 Allen Lane first edition (a German-language record: IX, 323 pages). Rung C. archive.org · archive.org
• LCLibrary of Congress catalogue record for Cousins and Strangers (LCCN 2005053825, cataloguing source DLC): “1st American ed.”, 309 pages, “Rev. ed. of: Not quite the diplomat. 2005.” Read in the copy held by the Internet Archive. Rung C. archive.org
• CCCarnegie Council, record of Patten’s talk on Cousins and Strangers, Feb 07, 2006. Opened; not used, because it is Patten speaking about the book, not the book. carnegiecouncil.org
• WWikipedia, “Not Quite the Diplomat,” used only to find reviews; not cited for any fact. wikipedia.org

Version 2: what we found when we checked our own work

Version 4

Version 3

Only one of version 1’s six errors changes what the summary says the book argues: it gave Patten a remark about Thatcher and the single market that is in Black’s own words (corrected Oct 20, 2026; this line said “none”). Each is the kind the protocols exist to catch: a date read in the wrong time zone, memory filling a gap, a paraphrase dressed as a quotation, and a reviewer’s words given to the author.

The second worked example

Here we could not read the book. In worked example 2 we could: a doctoral thesis summarized first from public sources about it, then from its full text, with the two passes compared claim by claim.

Attestation

Protocol 10 also asks the signer to read every source that carries a number, a date or a quote. The record of this page does not show that step, so we do not claim it.