Sir Ivan Rogers: Diplomat's departure means Brexit 'chaos'

The government's Brexit plans have been thrown into disarray following the unexpected resignation of the UK ambassador to the EU.

Sir Ivan Rogers "had been expected to play a key role in Brexit talks", the BBC reports, and was due to remain in his post until November.

However, he gathered his staff together yesterday to inform them he had handed in his notice, "leaving officials in shock over the loss of one of Britain's most experienced EU negotiators", reports the Financial Times, which broke the story.

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In an email to the UK's diplomatic staff in Brussels explaining his decision, Rogers said the UK had yet to resolve the structure of its negotiating team and still has no clear negotiation strategy for leaving the EU.

He also appeared to confirm rumours that he had been targeted for his "Brexit pessimism", urging staff to "challenge ill-founded arguments and muddled thinking" and to "never be afraid to speak the truth to those in power".

Rogers "angered Eurosceptics in December when it emerged he had told ministers it could take 10 years to negotiate a free-trade deal with the EU" rather than the two-year timeline touted by the government, says The Guardian.

Downing Street confirmed the EU ambassador's resignation. "Sir Ivan has taken this decision now to enable a successor to be appointed before the UK invokes Article 50 by the end of March," a spokesperson said.

"We are grateful for his work and commitment over the last three years."

Although the statement "makes it sound like a routine piece of bureaucratic house-keeping," says the BBC's Europe correspondent Kevin Connolly, "it seems certain there's more to it than that."

Labour peer Lord Mandelson warned that Rogers's apparent ousting was emblematic of a political culture where "civil servants are being increasingly inhibited in offering objective opinion and advice to ministers."

"Our negotiation as a whole will go nowhere if ministers are going to delude themselves about the immense difficulty and challenges Britain faces in implementing the referendum decision," he told The Guardian.

Former Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg, who worked with Rogers at the EU in the 1990s, said that if the reports that he was driven out by vengeful Brexiteers were true, then they had committed a "spectacular own goal".

"The resignation of somebody as experienced as Sir Ivan Rogers is a body blow to the government's Brexit plans," Clegg said.

Nigel Farage appeared unperturbed, however, and even urged other diplomats to follow suit.

"I think it would be appropriate if a lot more people in that position – British ambassadors – left," the Ukip leader said. "The political establishment in this country and the diplomatic service just doesn't accept the vote."

"[Theresa May] should welcome it with open arms and put a firm Brexiteer in the position," he added.