Britain's EU envoy resigns months before Brexit talks begin

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Britain's ambassador to the European Union, who sometimes clashed with Whitehall over its approach to upcoming Brexit negotiations, abruptly resigned less than three months before Prime Minister Theresa May is due to trigger formal Brexit negotiations.

Ivan Rogers, Britain's envoy to the EU, told staff on Tuesday that he would step down from his post early but did not explain his reasons for resigning, said the Financial Times, which was first to report the resignation.

The government said in a statement that Rogers, who had been due to leave his post in October 2017, had stepped down to enable a successor to be appointed before May triggers formal Brexit talks by the end of March. Rogers will leave within weeks.

Britain's ambassador to the European Union Ivan Rogers is pictured leaving the EU Summit in Brussels, Belgium, June 28, 2016. /Reuters Photo

"Ivan Rogers has resigned a few months early," a British government spokeswoman said. "We are grateful for his work and commitment over the last three years."

May now faces formal Brexit talks - likely to be among the most complicated negotiations in post-World War Two European history - without one of Britain's most accomplished EU experts.

"This weakens May's ability to get a good EU deal," said Charles Grant, Director of the Centre for European Reform think tank. "Ivan Rogers was one of the very few people at the top of the British government who understand the EU."

UK former Prime Minister David Cameron walks with UK ambassador to the European Union Ivan Rogers (R) as they leave the EU Summit in Brussels, Belgium, June 28, 2016. /Reuters Photo

The resignation is the second by a senior British EU official in the wake of the referendum. Jonathan Hill quit as Britain's European commissioner in June.

Rogers was known in London for sometimes blunt assessments of how far Britain could push EU allies -- often expressed in long emails -- that jarred with the expectations of some senior advisers around May and before her, David Cameron.

In October, Rogers warned British ministers that the consensus was that a trade deal with the EU might not be done until the early to mid-2020s and that national parliaments could ultimately reject it, the BBC reported last month.

(Story by Reuters)

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