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POLITICS EXPLAINED

What does Brexit bogeyman’s return mean for UK foreign policy?

Olly Robbins left the civil service during the turmoil over the withdrawal agreement – but now he’s back. Sean O’Grady looks at what’s in store for the former Brexit negotiator – and his new boss, David Lammy – as he takes up his new role at the Foreign Office

Friday 10 January 2025 20:06 GMT
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Without attracting a huge amount of media attention, two highly significant developments have taken place in British foreign policy. David Lammy, seemingly enjoying himself and secure in his role (there were once rumours about him making way for David Miliband or Douglas Alexander), has gone so far as to implement a new doctrine – “progressive realism” – in a keynote mission speech to his staff.

He has also picked a new chief civil servant for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO): Olly Robbins. Robbins will run the department, despite his odd formal title of “permanent under secretary of state”. The pair have their work cut out.

Olly Robbins. Name ring a bell?

Robbins is best remembered as the man Theresa May chose to be her chief Brexit negotiator during those anguished post-referendum years. A dedicated public servant possessed of a fine mind, Robbins did his best to make May’s Chequers plan acceptable to both the cabinet (as proxy for the divided Tory party) and the European Commission.

For his efforts to make the Irish border issue disappear, square circles, and get five from two plus two, Robbins was derided by the Eurosceptics and disgracefully smeared as some sort of Remainiac traitor. He did not long outlast May, and in 2019 went into consultancy. It marked the temporary destruction of a long and distinguished career in the civil service – but now he’s back.

Why has he been given the job?

Lammy clearly sought out Robbins after the latter narrowly missed out on the very top job of cabinet secretary at the health department (Antonia Romeo and Tamara Finkelstein were the other former senior colleagues in contention for a role that was ultimately awarded to Chris Wormald).

Robbins carried a lot of Brexit “baggage”, which might have made him less attractive to No 10 for presentational reasons, but the flip side of that is that he has plenty of experience, some painful, of dealing with Brussels. His remit is to deliver Labour’s promised “reset” with the EU, and Lammy obviously doesn’t mind defying any Brexiteer critics who want to abuse him and his colleagues for Brexit “betrayal”.

What else must he and Lammy do?

You name it. Even with its diminished post-Brexit status, the FCDO is still a busy place. An immediate priority is to be on the best terms possible with the new Trump administration, which means working with our new ambassador in Washington, Peter Mandelson.

The challenges there have been well documented, and each would be substantial enough on its own: the potential imposition of tariffs on British exports to the US; the future of Nato; the climate crisis and the Paris Agreement; the sharing of secrets and nuclear weapons technology; and, newly, the role and rights of social media networks such as Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter) and Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook.

Complicating matters is Musk’s vicious war of words with the British government, along with his attempts to oust Keir Starmer, his offer to fund Reform UK, and the various activities of Nigel Farage... plus some disobliging remarks Lammy made about the president-elect in the past.

Anything else?

New treaties with Germany, and possibly France; Ukraine; the Middle East; Sudan; and, as Lammy puts it, “pragmatic engagement to cooperate with China where we can, such as on trade, climate, global health, [and] AI regulation”.

What is ‘progressive realism’?

Robbins will make the best he can of it, and will try to make sure it doesn’t suffer the same ignominious fate as Robin Cook’s analogous “ethical dimension to foreign policy” under Tony Blair, which got blown up by the war in Iraq.

No doubt Robbins will consult the text of Lammy’s speech to the Fabian Society last January, which defined it thus: “Progressive because our foreign policy will be founded on our values of equality, the rule of law, and internationalism. Realist because we will focus on making practical, tangible progress with the world as it is, not as we wish it to be. People have put these words together before, and some have sought to create a false binary between them.”

Good luck with all that, Olly.

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