Boris Johnson to take control of trade talks with Brussels after closing Brexit ministry on Friday
BORIS Johnson is taking personal charge of negotiations with Brussels for an EU trade deal after he shuts the Brexit ministry on Friday.
Downing Street has announced a 40 strong team dubbed ‘Taskforce Europe’ will run the talks from No10.
The PM’s Europe adviser David Frost will be in charge of it, reporting directly to Mr Johnson instead of a separate Cabinet minister.
The new arrangement is hoped to spell an end to the bitter rows of the last three years when a series of Brexit Secretaries clashed with PMs.
It also means Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay will leave the Cabinet when his Department for Exiting the European Union is formally disbanded as Britain leaves the EU on Friday, at 11pm.
But the minister is expected to get a new senior role when Boris carries out a major post-Brexit reshuffle as early as next week.
Sir Tim Barrow, who is currently the UK’s Permanent Representative to the EU, will become the UK’s ambassador to the bloc, while the body he heads up - known as UKRep - will switch to being known as the UK Mission to the European Union.
Taskforce Europe is intended to be “small and agile”, No10 said yesterday.
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Boris Johnson rejected Irish premier Leo Varadkar’s warning that an extension to the Brexit transition period would be needed to tie up a deal.
The Prime Minister said: “I have to say this is one of those rare occasions where I’m going to be obliged to respectfully disagree with my friend the Taoiseach and just say I think we can wrap all this up in the time we’ve got."
“We’ve got till, as you know, the end of the year and we will be doing things very fast, in a very friendly and respectful way, and in a way also, I think it’s important to stress, that really ensures we look after the interests of the Republic of Ireland as well.”
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