News of Britain’s ambassador to the European Union Sir Ivan Rodgers’ resignation on 3 January dismayed just about everyone except for a group of the most rabid Euro-sceptic, pro-Brexit Tory MPs. It had already been reported in the Daily Mail that “the knives were out for Sir Ivan,” and this same group began to call for him to be replaced with a “diplomat who is energetically pro-Brexit.” This followed on from leaked remarks—some say deliberately leaked to the BBC by his enemies—that he had warned the Government it could take 10 years to complete a post-Brexit trade deal with the European Union. For these private remarks he was lambasted by the pro-Brexit Tory MP Dominic Raab, who accused him of being “scarred by his own pessimistic advice in the past.”
Sir Ivan also noted that even if a trade deal with the European Union was negotiated—however long that might take—it would still have to be ratified by each of the national parliaments of the other member states; meaning it could still fail. Downing Street commented that this was not Sir Ivan’s “advice” but simply that he was reporting what other EU member states were telling him. But such a view is clearly nonsense, following the leak of his resignation letter.
