'The sort of people the British voted against' – Michael Portillo scolds Sir Ivan Rogers
BREXITEER Michael Portillo has blasted Sir Ivan Rogers and mandarins like him for “embedding” the UK within the EU for decades.
Portillo: Mandarins like Ivan Rogers are a "massive" problem
The former Conservative Defence Secretary said the Government faced a “massive institutional problem” in trying to negotiate a Brexit deal using pro-European Union diplomats.
Explaining his “moment of the week” on BBC One’s This Week, Mr Portillo said people like Sir Ivan, Britain’s former EU ambassador, were exactly the kinds of diplomats the public voted against in last year’s referendum.
Sir Ivan resigned his post at the start of the year, surprising Westminster and No 10, and criticising Theresa May for lacking a clear strategy over Brexit.
Mr Portillo said: “Well I thought the resignation of Sir Ivan Rogers, who was our ambassador to the European Union [should be my moment of the week].
“It struck me that people like Sir Ivan, mandarins who are accountable only through politicians to the public, have been embedding us in the European Union for the last 50 years.
Michael Portillo bashed the former diplomat on BBC One's This Week
Michael Portillo hints at hard Brexit when probed by Andrew Neil
It struck me that people like Sir Ivan, mandarins who are accountable only through politicians to the public, have been embedding us in the European Union for the last 50 years
“They’re actually the sort of people the British people voted against in the referendum.”
The 63-year-old also aired concerns over the UK being reliant on diplomats who did not truly believe in Brexit.
“It also just strongly illustrated to me that one of the problems that the Government has is how on earth do you start negotiating Brexit using mandarins,” he said.
“Using foreign office officials and other departments who absolutely don’t believe in Brexit, who have no belief in it whatsoever.
Michael Portillo slammed diplomats for "embedding" the UK in the EU
“It is a massive institutional problem but my guess is that we’ll have two years of inconclusive negotiations followed by a political settlement.”
Sir Ivan quit earlier this month and sent an email to his staff admitting that he did not know what the Government’s Brexit plan was.
Other notable critics who have spoken out include former Ukip leader Nigel Farage, who said the diplomat’s “whole career” had been committed to the process of European integration.
He added: “He’s one of the high priests that wants to build a state called Europe and frankly we shouldn’t have waited this long for his resignation, he should’ve gone the day after the referendum.”
Former Foreign Secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind branded the relationship between Sir Ivan and the Government “disturbing”.
Sir Tim Barrow, a veteran and much-admired member of the Foreign Office was soon appointed to replace Sir Ivan as EU ambassador.