I am reading The War that ended peace by Margaret Macmillan and at one point while talking about the various methods the British used to gain leverage and power in Morocco during the late 19th and early 20th centuries that "...and when those failed the wives of British diplomats knew what they had to do to further Britain's interests." Her reference for this rather scandalous claim is Christopher Andrew's work Theophile Declasse page 186. This is a secondary source also, and as I don't have access to a library now, I was wondering if anyone could chime in on this rather deliciously salacious matter. Thanks in advance!
Christopher Andrew is a serious, well respected historian with the highest security clearance of any British historian ever. He's done the official histories for public publication of both MI5 and SIS/MI6 as well as having done numerous collaborations with spies such as Oleg Gordievsky. If he made the claim he will have sources to back it up. It may not have been widespread amongst the Foreign Office but it would have occurred in Morocco at that time.
I also seriously question whether or not the wives of senior British officials committed adultery in order to further the policy goals set out by the Foreign Office. This seems to be altogether out of character for the period.