Ron Prosor's penchant for puns will no doubt tax his translators at the United Nations when he takes up his new role there as Israel's envoy next month.

He was certainly quick with the quips at one of his final appearances as London ambassador, at the Bicom Israel advocacy conference on Sunday.

Friendly groans greeted his remark, after observing that Britain's new ambassador to Israel Matthew Gould had got to a glittering start, that: "All that glitters is Gould."

A more generous response, for sure, than the jeers which arose from parts of audience when Defence Secretary Liam Fox expressed the government's hope that the Fatah-Hamas agreement might have a peaceful outcome.