Sir Mark Ivan Rogers (born March 1960) is a former senior British
civil servant who was the
Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the European Union from 4 November 2013 until his resignation on 3 January 2017.
Education
Rogers was educated at
Bournemouth School in his home town, the south-coast town of
Bournemouth in Dorset,
at which his father taught history.
[ After a gap year in Bremen, in north-western Germany, he studied History for three years at ]Balliol College
Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the ...
at the University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
, followed by the École Normale Supérieure
École may refer to:
* an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée)
* École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France
* École, S ...
in Paris. This was followed by another three years at Balliol, at which he pursued doctoral studies in the history of socio-biology and eugenic thinking on the political left, though he did not finish his degree.[
]
Career
Rogers successfully applied for a place on the civil service's 'fast track', and chose the Department of Health and Social Security
The Department of Health and Social Security (commonly known as the DHSS) was a ministry of the British government in existence for twenty years from 1968 until 1988, and was headed by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Services.
Hi ...
. In 1992, he was seconded to the Treasury and did not return to his former department.[ He served in the ]Treasury
A treasury is either
*A government department related to finance and taxation, a finance ministry.
*A place or location where treasure, such as currency or precious items are kept. These can be state or royal property, church treasure or i ...
, including as Private Secretary
A private secretary (PS) is a civil servant in a governmental department or ministry, responsible to a secretary of state or minister; or a public servant in a royal household, responsible to a member of the royal family.
The role exists in ...
, to Kenneth Clarke
Kenneth Harry Clarke, Baron Clarke of Nottingham, (born 2 July 1940), often known as Ken Clarke, is a British politician who served as Home Secretary from 1992 to 1993 and Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1993 to 1997 as well as serving as de ...
, Chancellor of the Exchequer. He then was seconded to the European Commission
The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...
as Chief of Staff to Sir Leon Brittan, returning to be Director, European Strategy and Policy and later Director of Budget and Public Finances under Gordon Brown.
In 2003, Rogers was chosen to succeed Jeremy (later Sir Jeremy) Heywood as the Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister, Tony Blair
Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...
. After three years in this role, Rogers left the civil service in 2006 to become Head of the UK Public Sector Group at Citigroup. In 2010 Rogers transferred to be Head of the Public Sector Industry Group, UK and Ireland, at Barclays Capital
Barclays () is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services.
Barclays traces ...
from 2010 to 2011.
In 2012, Rogers returned to the civil service as the Prime Minister's Adviser for Europe and Global Issues and the Head of the European and Global Issues Secretariat, based in the Prime Minister's Office at Number 10, replacing Jon Cunliffe
Sir Jonathan Stephen Cunliffe, CB (born 2 June 1953) is a senior British civil servant, currently serving as Deputy Governor of the Bank of England for Financial Stability.
Biography
Cunliffe studied at Manchester University. He lectured at ...
who had become the senior British diplomat at the EU. On Cunliffe's move to the Bank of England the next year, Rogers succeeded him again, moving to Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
in 2013.
In 2015, Rogers was paid a salary of between £170,000 and £174,999 by the Foreign Office, making him one of the 328 most highly paid people in the British public sector at that time.
Following the Brexit referendum in June 2016, Rogers became a key civil servant in the negotiations to leave.
Personal views of the EU and resignation
In December 2016, an internal memo Rogers had written suggesting difficulties for the agreement was leaked. According to this leaked memo, Sir Ivan privately held the view that a settlement between the UK and the European Union might not be reached for 10 years, if at all, which did not reflect the Government's view. Questions were raised in the press whether Downing Street could any longer have confidence in his advice. He resigned on 3 January 2017, nine months ahead of the nominal end of his posting in October 2017.
On 11 October 2018, in Cambridge, Rogers delivered a lecture on "Brexit as Revolution", in which he said that he continued to think that the risks of an accidental "no-deal" Brexit caused by persistent British misreading of others' incentives and views, and by the EU's frequent inability to comprehend UK politics
The United Kingdom is a unitary state with devolution that is governed within the framework of a parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarchy in which the monarch, currently Charles III, King of the United Kingdom, is the head ...
, were higher than was in the price.
In a lecture that Rogers delivered on 13 December 2018 at the University of Liverpool, he said that the EU was always adroit at reframing things that have already been agreed, such as the "backstop", in ways that "make the medicine slip down".
Rogers was very critical of the strategy pursued by the British team in their negotiations with the EU following the triggering of Article 50. On 4 March 2019, while speaking to the Institute for Government, he pointed out the similarities in the tactics adopted by Theresa May's government and the tactics used by David Cameron's government in their renegotiations with the EU before the 2016 referendum. He said that May and her advisers' approach was to attempt to deal directly with the leaders of the major governments within the EU but the "reflex in the British system (is) always to think that we can deal direct with the organ grinders and not the monkeys: it never works like that. It didn't work like that in the Cameron renegotiation either. That stuff is not done in the way British politics works, leader to leader. It's done via the bureaucrats, and the sherpas, and the people at the top of the institutions."
Book
* ''9 Lessons in Brexit''. Short Books Ltd, 7. February 2019,
Honours
Rogers was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) in the 2016 New Year Honours
The New Year Honours 2016 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebratio ...
.
Offices held
See also
* Tim Barrow#Ambassadorships and EU work
References
External links
Senior Adviser Appointed
Number 10, Office of the Prime Minister, Prime Minister's Adviser for Europe and Global Issues
'Citibank hires Blair's top private secretary'
at Yahoo!
Yahoo! (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web services provider. It is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California and operated by the namesake company Yahoo Inc., which is 90% owned by investment funds managed by Apollo Global Manage ...
Person – Ivan Rogers
biographical note on the Gov.uk site
Ivan Rogers – Cameron's Sherpa – European Voice
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rogers, Ivan
1960 births
Living people
Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford
British expatriates in France
British expatriates in Germany
Civil servants in HM Treasury
Private secretaries in the British Civil Service
Principal Private Secretaries to the Prime Minister
Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George