A pertinent comment from Spy Blog (Watching Them, Watching Us) on my posting below, asking about diplomatic gossip about expellees and asking whether the absence of names of expelled diplomats ‘taints’ others who might be leaving normally.

First, gossip. You can’t and shouldn’t and won’t stop gossip. But it’s not a problem. Partly because it is just that – idle and often ill-informed chatter.  

More importantly, because in real life people move in very different circles which are not so easy to penetrate by ‘outsiders’ – try being a journalist attempting to get alongside gossiping Iranian diplomatic wives in London, and you’ll see what I mean. Even garrulous gossipers close ranks against Mr Nosey.

Second, diplomats don’t mind if they are suspected of having been expelled when they have not been. It’s rather exciting, helping them cultivate an air of mystery and importance. HQ will know the truth, which in practice is all that matters in next-move terms.

Spy Blog cites the London Diplomatic List as a source of possible detective work in the Iran Embassy case. But that List is only as up-to-date as an Embassy wants it to be, or as the compilers can ascertain.

The list as given by Spy Blog lists 25 Iranian accredited diplomats, although there will be others among technical/support staff who are not accredited and who also might be ripe for expelling. Even taking that 25, assuming a ‘normal’ three year posting cycle some eight of them could move in any one year anyway. So not much help there either for amateur sleuths.

The fact is, if the two governments concerned want to keep the names of the expelled diplomats quiet, they are likely to be pretty efficient at doing so.

Which is why the Russian approach in the ‘dead drop’ rock drama in 2006 was typically interesting and innovative – naming various UK diplomats as involved and leaving them to twist in the media wind.