Who is Sir Tim Barrow - the new UK ambassador to the EU?

In a statement, Sir Tim said: ‘I am honoured to be appointed as the UK’s Permanent Representative to the EU at this crucial time’

Sir Tim Barrow, a former envoy to Moscow with a career as a diplomat spanning three decades, has been confirmed by the Government as the new UK ambassador to the EU.

The 52-year-old’s appointment comes after Sir Ivan Rogers’s unexpected resignation from the role, in which he urged fellow civil servants to provide impartial advice and stand up to “ill-founded arguments and muddled thinking” of politicians in a fiery letter.

Sir Tim, a senior diplomat educated at the universities of Warwick and Oxford, has a wealth of experience and earlier in his career acted as first secretary at UKRep – the UK embassy in Brussels – meaning he will be more than familiar with the EU machinery.

Downing Street described him as a “seasoned and tough negotiator”.

He joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in 1986 and became the Whitehall department’s political director after succeeding Simon Glass in March last year.

The experience he has gained in that post, where he managed the Government’s foreign policy objectives, will be crucial to handling the highly charged Brexit talks set to begin in two months when Theresa May serves the Article 50 notice to the EU.

In a statement, he said: “I am honoured to be appointed as the UK’s Permanent Representative to the EU at this crucial time. I look forward to joining the strong leadership team at the Department for Exiting the EU and working with them and the talented staff at UKRep to ensure we get the right outcome for the United Kingdom as we leave the EU.”

But Sir Tim has held several roles in his 30-year career as a diplomat, including postings in Kiev and Brussels. His most influential, however, was his tenure as the UK ambassador to Moscow until 2015.

Speaking about his appointment to the role in 2011, the father of four said he was pleased to be returning to Russia. “I have good memories of working in Moscow in the early nineties. I look forward to getting to know again this vast and dynamic country and to continuing the steady work of developing relations between our two countries.” It was a role that won him a knighthood in the New Year’s Honours 2015 for services to British foreign policy and interests in Russia.

In his new role as the UK’s ambassador to the EU, his former boss Charles Crawford told LBC radio he will be “fearless” and that he was an “excellent choice” for the high-profile role as Britain negotiates its exit from the EU.

His appointment – viewed as a victory for the Foreign Office – also signals a snub by the Prime Minister to those calling for a hardline Brexiteer to be appointed to the role. Nigel Farage, the former Ukip leader, responding to the announcement said: “Good to see that the Government have replaced a knighted career diplomat – with a knighted career diplomat”.

However, among civil servants his appointment is likely to come as welcome news. Speaking on BBC’s Radio 4 Today programme, Sir Simon Fraser, the former head of the Foreign Office, said there will be many people keen on the role – and experienced people in the Foreign Office, the Treasury and in the Cabinet Office, who are qualified to do it.

“I think what we need in Brussels is somebody who has experience, who’s going to be a real professional negotiator, who will be sitting in a room with lots of other very experienced and knowledgeable negotiators, and who will be able to hold his or her own in that negotiation,” he said.