UK ambassador to the EU resigns

The UK's ambassador to the EU has resigned from his post 11 months early, supposedly to allow his successor time to get in post before Brexit negotiations start.

Sir Ivan Rogers was due to leave his post in November but decided to cut his stint as ambassador to the EU short. The British government released a statement saying it was to allow his successor time to get settled into the job in time for Article 50 being triggered in March but Rogers is a committed Remainer who has been briefing against Brexit and his decision is likely to be more to do with not being able to get his own way than wanting to smooth the way to successful negotiations.

Rogers' resignation is being lamented by Remoaners who desperately wanted to keep their man involved in the Brexit negotiations.

Nick Clegg claims that Rogers has been "hounded out by hostile Brexiteers in government" and called it "a body blow to the government's Brexit plans" and "a spectacular own goal".

George Osborne described him as "perceptive, pragmatic and patriotic" whilst the Labour MP for Copenhagen, Stephen Kinnock, said it "raises serious concerns about the Government’s shambolic approach".

Peter Mandelson said "his resignation is a serious loss for us in Brussels" and "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".

The only people who will miss Ivan Rogers are the eurofederalists at home and on the continent who were hoping he would be able to help downgrade our independence to membership lite. He was an obstruction to a clean Brexit and we are better off with him out of the way. Let's just hope that Theresa May doesn't appoint yet another Remainiac to handle our exit negotiations with the EU.