PARTING SHOT

British Ambassador to EU Slams Brexit Strategy

Sir Ivan Rogers quits with scorching email to staffers.

British Prime Minister Theresa May will appoint a new pro-Brexit ambassador to the European Union, it is reported, following the resignation Tuesday of an envoy who sent an extraordinary 1,300-word email to his staff strongly criticizing the British government’s attitude to Brexit and accusing ministers of “muddled thinking” in a parting shot. Sir Ivan Rogers, a revered career diplomat, prompted anger from Euroskeptics in December after it emerged he had told ministers that Brexit could take a decade and may not ultimately succeed. In his email, Sir Ivan wrote to his staff: “I hope you will continue to challenge ill-founded arguments and muddled thinking and that you will never be afraid to speak the truth to those in power. I hope that you will support each other in those difficult moments where you have to deliver messages that are disagreeable to those who need to hear them.” He added, “We do not yet know what the government will set as negotiating objectives for the U.K.’s relationship with the EU after exit. There is much we will not know until later this year about the political shape of the EU itself, and who the political protagonists in any negotiation with the U.K. will be.”