Whitehall chiefs race to find key staff who can 'keep calm' and sort Brexit
Whitehall chiefs are racing to recruit key staff just weeks before the UK is due to leave the EU — stressing they need to be able to “keep calm” and carry out Brexit.
The Brexit Department has put out a series of adverts for new civil servants.
One ad is seeking seven analysts, on salaries between £49,000 and £70,000, who will “play a critical role” in analysis shaping decisions before the UK leaves the EU and in the negotiations after.
The eleventh-hour recruitment move stunned MPs. Shadow Brexit minister Matthew Pennycook said: “We are less than 80 days until we leave the EU and yet the Government still hasn’t hired the staff to properly plan for Brexit.”
The department is also seeking seven people to work in business assistant and business support roles to directors and deputy directors.
“They should be team players who are able to keep calm and prioritise workloads, with the ability to forward plan as business needs change,” the ad explains.
In an apparent sign of the frenetic pace of Brexit preparations, it continues: “DExEU is a dynamic working environment where the successful candidate will be requested to make arrangements at short notice.”
A DExEU spokeswoman said: “We will continue to recruit the staff we need to deliver Brexit and negotiate our future relationship with the EU.”
Two Brexit secretaries, David Davis and Dominic Raab, have already quit.
