Posted on Jan 21, 2021

UK appoints Brexit negotiator Croisdale-Appleby as ambassador to EU

Lindsay Croisdale-Appleby, a career diplomat who earned Boris Johnson’s trust in Brexit talks as deputy chief negotiator, will be the next U.K. ambassador to the EU, Politico reports.

He will take over from Tim Barrow.

Croisdale-Appleby joined the civil service in 1996, and has held a string of foreign policy posts, including serving as ambassador to Colombia between 2013 and 2015; Europe director at the U.K.’s Foreign Office and; in 2017, director-general for EU exit at the same department.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said those qualities would be “vital as our friendly cooperation with the EU continues.”

Croisdale-Appleby said in a statement he would “delighted” to lead the U.K. diplomatic mission in Brussels following last month’s Brexit deal.

Barrow's Foreign Office role will give him oversight of that department’s delivery of policy on Europe; Russia; Central Asia; the EU; the G7 and the UN Security Council.

The announcement came on the same day that the UK government refused to recognise the diplomatic status of the EU's ambassador to the UK.

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