Does anyone else think Sir Ivan Rogers quit when he did in order to make sure his replacement was someone like Sir Tim Barrow?
Rogers’ ostensible explanation for quitting was that his posting was coming up anyway in a couple of months and he wanted to give his successor some time to read themselves in. Naturally he then gave the real explanation further into the letter. Had the appointment process been allowed to run its course, there would have been time for an organised campaign for some clown like [fill in the blank] to get it, and for David Davis to try to grab the UK Permanent Representation to the EU away from the Foreign Office. Instead, as Rogers quit with immediate effect and an immediate replacement was needed, the process was telescoped into 24 hours, giving a huge advantage to the immediately available institutional candidate who was also the safe option.