Whitehall chief blasted for ‘belittling’ UK over Brexit
A TORY MP has criticised the head of the Diplomatic Service for belittling Britain’s status in the world.
Bob Seely hit out at top civil servant Sir Simon McDonald for dismissing Britain as just a “medium-sized” nation in comments on Brexit.
Sir Simon said: “One fact that will not change is that we are a mediumsized country, and most of what we want to do on the international stage we can only achieve with partners.”
And in what appeared to be a coded attack on Brexit, he also bemoaned the “hard work” it will make for the Foreign Office.
Sir Simon told an Institute for Government event: “Outside the EU... it is going to be more difficult to do what we want so we are going to have to work harder.
“For the last 45 years we have been a member of a big, pretty coherent regional club and been one of the three biggest players in that club.”
But Mr Seely, a member of the foreign affairs committee, said: “I just get so wound up when I hear this medium-sized power stuff.”
While he conceded that the world’s two superpowers are the US and China, he pointed out that Britain ranks in the next tier of “great nations” above even Russia whose power is only measured in “destructive” military might.
He said: “We are in many ways the second most powerful nation on earth in terms of our soft power. Can we please nail this ‘we are a little country’ routine. I don’t think it is going to help us post-Brexit.”
The Isle of Wight MP was commenting ahead of the publication of a paper he has produced for the Henry Jackson Society on Russian warfare.
Defending himself, Sir Simon – who is responsible for Britain’s embassies and consulates around the world – added: “I don’t think medium-sized is small.
“We are in the top half dozen for the size of the economy, the size of our armed forces. Our aid development assistance is in the top three.
“So we are (there) in weight and consequence but the top two are way ahead so it’s that relative thing we need to be honest about.”
Sir Simon also signalled that government ministries are already beginning to argue over what will happen to the Brexit Department’s money and resources after the UK leaves the EU, saying that the Foreign Office expects to get “a large chunk” of it.
The creation of the Brexit Department to run the negotiations was known to have been opposed in some parts of the Foreign Office which saw it as removing part of its responsibilities.
Sir Simon is paid more than £180,000 to run the Diplomatic Service after a Foreign Office career which began in 1982.
He has served as Jack Straw’s principal private secretary, the UK’s ambassador in Israel and later Germany, and the Director for Iraq during the war.
The confrontation between Sir Simon and Mr Seely has come against a background of concern that senior figures in Whitehall are opposed to Brexit and do not want it to succeed.
Previously the ire of Brexitsupporting MPs has been directed at the Treasury, which played a major role in producing inaccurate doomsday scenario forecasts of how Britain’s economy would plummet as the result of a Leave vote.