Robbins in the spotlight as MPS question extent of his influence
CIVIL SERVANTS are usually loath to enter the spotlight. In many ways, Oliver “Olly” Robbins, a public servant for more than two decades, has stuck to that. Yet few characters have been as permanent or central in the Brexit saga.
His unguarded private comments in a Brussels hotel bar on Monday night, overheard by a reporter from ITV, are an incredibly rare thing.
But over two-for-one drinks at the Sofitel hotel bar in Brussels, Mr Robbins was overheard suggesting that MPS would be given a choice between backing a revise version of the Prime Minister’s deal or a “long” extension.
His comments divided both the party and the Cabinet. One minister told The Daily Telegraph they believe there is still a one in three chance of Britain leaving without a deal.
However, Remain ministers fighting to keep a no-deal Brexit off the table were privately said to be “grateful” for Mr Robbins’s comments. “We’ve had more clarity from him than from the Prime Minister,” one said.
Mr Robbins, who has served four prime ministers and spent seven years working in intelligence and security jobs in Whitehall, got to know Mrs May when he was second permanent secretary to the Home Office.
Having been appointed by David Cameron in 2016 to a new Brexit unit in the Cabinet Office, Mrs May then made him both permanent secretary to the Department for Exiting the EU (DEXEU) and her adviser. In that role he is said to have developed a habit of taking things directly to the Prime Minister.
When David Davis resigned as Brexit Secretary and was replaced by Dominic Raab, Mr Robbins was promoted to be Mrs May’s point man in Brussels, making official what many Brexiteer’s privately suspected was already the case.
Henry Newman, director of the Open Europe think tank and a former colleague of Mr Robbins, told Sky News last year: “One criticism I heard from officials working for him was that a lot of the negotiation was really in Olly’s head. What was the plan if Olly fell under the proverbial bus?”
Both former Brexit secretaries have suggested that he wielded more power over the negotiations than they did.
Last night, Eurosceptic MPS suggested at a meeting of the 1922 Conservative backbench committee that Mr Robbins should be disciplined.
One MP said they felt they could no longer trust the Government, while another accused ministers of failing to take the Malthouse compromise – a plan C drawn up by Remainers and Leavers – seriously.
Mr Robbins is not out on his ear by any means, and the meetings in Brussels have been dismissed by commentators as so much smoke and mirrors. But it was a clear signal to Eurosceptics that the politicians were now in charge.
Will that matter? The revisions, if there are any, to the Irish backstop are also expected to be far short of what the most ardent Eurosceptics demand. But if anyone has any idea what the Prime Minister is planning, it’s likely to be Mr Robbins.