The Spectator

Sir Ivan’s exit

He was heavily associated with a failed way of conducting negotiations with the EU

The wonder about Sir Ivan Rogers’s resignation as Britain’s ambassador to the EU is that he was still in the job. He may have possessed useful knowledge about the workings of the EU, but he was also heavily associated with a failed way of conducting negotiations with it. It was he who advised David Cameron last February on his unsuccessful renegotiations of Britain’s relationship with the EU, which failed to convince the British people to vote to remain in the union. It would have been better and less disruptive had he resigned in the wake of the referendum last June, along with the Prime Minister.

That Sir Ivan was not the man to work on Brexit negotiations is clear from the email he sent to colleagues as he resigned, and which it is impossible to believe that he did not intend to be leaked. ‘I hope you will continue to challenge ill-founded arguments and muddled thinking,’ he wrote, ‘and that you will never be afraid to speak the truth to those in power.’

A diplomat should not be briefing against the government. What he sees as the ‘truth’ is really nothing more than his opinion. While it was his job to give that opinion, it is a sign of arrogance that he saw it as more than that. Throughout the referendum campaign, and the Remain campaign rearguard operation which has followed it, we have repeatedly seen opinion elevated to the status of fact. It was beyond question, we were told by George Osborne, that the Treasury’s analysis of a severe and instant hit to the economy in the event of a vote for Brexit was correct. As subsequent events have proved, it was anything but.

Sir Ivan’s arrogance became notorious among government aides who worked alongside him during David Cameron’s renegotiations.

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