Theresa May will appoint a new British ambassador to the European Union in less than four weeks as she responds to an incendiary resignation letter by outgoing diplomat Sir Ivan Rogers.
The Prime Minister will also use a keynote speech to set out her Brexit plans in more detail following his revelation that not even the Foreign Office knows what her objectives are. A lacerating resignation memo written by Sir Ivan emerged in full today. It hit out at “ill-founded arguments and muddled thinking” among politicians backing Britain’s exit from the EU.
He said “we do not yet know what the Government will set as negotiating objectives for the UK’s relationship with the EU after exit” and claimed “serious multilateral negotiating experience is in short supply in Whitehall”.
Posted to Foreign Office staff — and inevitably leaked to the media — the memo hinted strongly that Cabinet members were not listening to the civil service’s views.
“I hope you will continue to challenge ill-founded arguments and muddled thinking and that you will never be afraid to speak the truth to those in power,” Sir Ivan wrote. “I hope that you will support each other in those difficult moments where you have to deliver messages that are disagreeable to those who need to hear them.”
Mrs May is not believed to have spoken to Sir Ivan since he announced his departure yesterday. No 10 sources insisted she had been clear on her key objectives, which included control over immigration, the ability to trade in the single market area, and ending the primacy of European courts.
They also said the Foreign Office would be in charge of choosing a successor — although diplomatic sources said Mrs May would be heavily involved.
Foreign Office sources said the new ambassador would be a career diplomat, scotching demands from some Tory MPs for an outsider. However, MPs were pushing hard for it to be someone who would be a “Brexit believer”.
London business leaders said the views of the ambassador were not important compared with experience and negotiating skills to get a good deal for the City.
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John Dickie, at business group London First, said: “We need an experienced negotiator with the credibility to speak truth to power. Playing politics with this appointment would be bad for business and bad for Britain.”
Colin Stanbridge, of London Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said: “The background of Ivan Rogers’s replacement here is not important. What is important is that we get the right person in the role in a timely fashion and that person is committed, hard-working and helps get the job done with the best possible result for London and the rest of the UK.”
Jonathan Powell, Tony Blair’s former chief of staff, warned against choosing a “patsy”.
But prominent pro-Brexit MP Iain Duncan Smith said too many civil servants had been briefing against Brexit. “If you don’t agree, and I have full respect for him, then you have to go,” he said. Mr Duncan Smith suggested Sir Ivan had undermined his position by “going public” too often.
