Former Brexit negotiator to become Foreign Office chief
Former Brexit negotiator Sir Oliver Robbins is expected to be appointed as the top civil servant at the Foreign Office, the BBC believes.
He succeeds Sir Philip Barton, who became Permanent Secretary in 2020 but decided to step down This month before the expiry of the full five-year tenure achieved by his predecessors.
It is understood Sir Oliver did not initially apply for the role, but will now return to the civil service to take up the job – after overseeing Brexit negotiations he left in 2019.
Sir Oliver’s appointment, first reported by The Guardian, could cause an uproar at the Foreign Office as he will be seen as an outsider who has not worked for the department before.
Sir Oliver is expected to oversee a series of sweeping reforms to the way the Foreign Office works.
Before leaving the civil service, he was seen as a high-flying man, serving as principal private secretary to Sir Tony Blair and then Gordon Brown.
Sir Oliver then became Deputy National Security Adviser, Deputy Permanent Secretary at the Home Office and Head of the Department for Exiting the European Union.
Sir Philip’s decision to step down early comes after he was criticized by MPs for his handling of the chaotic withdrawal of UK staff after Kabul falls to the Taliban in 2022.
During the evacuation, Sir Philip took 17 days leave – which he did Told the parliamentary foreign affairs committee that he was sorry.
Sir Philip claimed that it was not clear that Kabul would fall so quickly when he went on leave, but his absence was seen as a failure of leadership, and he was criticized for weakening the FCDO’s response.
In his four years as head of the diplomatic service, Sir Philip served under five Foreign Secretaries: Dominic Raab, Liz Truss, James Cleverley, Lord Cameron and David Lammy.
He has previously held a number of public service roles, including Director-General of Foreign Office, Consular and Security, and as Acting Chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee in the Cabinet Office.
He was also the former High Commissioner to Islamabad, Deputy Chief of Mission in Washington and Director of Foreign Policy, and Coordinator for Afghanistan and Pakistan.
