Sir Emyr does stand-up

Here's a joke Sir Emyr Jones Parry won't be telling at gatherings of the All-Wales Convention, as re-told by Chris Mullin in his diaries.

"At breakfast Sir Emyr tells a joke about an American general, seconded to Sandhurst who asks of a passing lieutenant, 'Officer, can you tell me where the lecture theatre is at?'

The lieutenant dully tells him, adding pedantically, 'In Britain, sir, we don't put the preposition at the end of the sentence.'

'I get you, lieutenant,' replies the general. 'You mean I should have asked, 'Where is the lecture theatre at, arsehole?'"

Sir Emyr, in his previous role at the UN comes out of the diaries well. Mullin describes him and his wife Lynn: "as agreeable and down to earth a couple as one could hope to find in Her Majesty's diplomatic service," a service in which Mullin believes the toffs have been superseded by bright grammar school boys.

Not everyone in Welsh politics emerges from the hugely enjoyable A View From The Foothills (Profile Books, £20) with their reputations intact. In the absence of politicians from Westminster, I'll be dipping into the book during the next few days.