Britain’s ambassador to the European Union has yet to move permanently to Brussels more than six months after starting the job.
Sir Tim Barrow, 53, was appointed the UK’s representative to the EU in January. His wife and four children remain in London, where he spends many weekends.
Senior sources in Brussels claimed Sir Tim is often absent during parts of the week as well, attending meetings and working in Whitehall.
The absences are said to have been compounded by his need to fight “turf wars” in Whitehall over the government’s Brexit strategy.
A senior source told The Times that the Department for Exiting the EU (Dexeu) had sidelined Sir Tim, who works for the Foreign Office, in the preparation process for the Brexit negotiations.
“Olly Robbins [the permanent secretary in Dexeu] has cut him out,” one said.
Another added: “The Foreign Office has been totally cut out because the foreign secretary [Boris Johnson] won’t stand up for anything. There is a disconnect between Dexeu and the rest of Whitehall.”
A Foreign Office spokeswoman denied any rift, saying that Sir Tim and Mr Robbins were working closely together.
EU ambassadors have noted Sir Tim’s absences from meetings of Coreper, the committee of permanent representatives, and what they claim to be his disengagement from Brexit talks.
His personal decision not to relocate to the Belgian capital with his family has also raised eyebrows among civil servants working for the UK Permanent Representation to the EU.
The Foreign Office insisted that Sir Tim was spending the “vast majority of his time” in Brussels, where he has an official residence, saying it was not unusual for diplomats to leave family behind in London.
Friends of Sir Tim said he took the job out of loyalty to the Foreign Office, moving outside his specialism of Russia and security policy. He is a highly regarded diplomat, considered to be one of Britain’s foremost experts on Russia.
“[The EU post] isn’t, and never really was, his bag,” one veteran of EU and British diplomacy said. “Foreign affairs, Russia and security is his world.”
Last night a former senior Foreign Office diplomat described the claim that Sir Tim was not fully engaged in Coreper meetings as horrifying.
“It isn’t sensible for the permanent representative not to live in Brussels full-time because you just extenuate the isolation and the feeling that you are no longer part of the club,” they said.
“There are lots of things that happen every week where you need to be. It is horrifying if you’re skipping those meetings and leaving it to a junior to go along. It will just extenuate the view that we have left already.”
Another diplomatic source said: “He does not live [full-time] in Brussels and has chosen not to live in Brussels. Lots of people are remarking on it. It sends a very bad message. What would happen if Britain’s ambassador to Paris decided to commute too?”
One EU permanent representative described him as “out of the loop” and “irrelevant” to diplomats needing to know the thinking in Downing Street.
However, the former Brexit minister David Jones dismissed suggestions that Sir Tim had been isolated and said that he had been “tremendously impressed” in all their dealings. “He is a very seasoned and canny diplomat,” he said.
The Foreign Office said it was wrong to suggest that Sir Tim had not moved into the Brussels residence.
“Tim lives in the residence, is in Brussels the majority of the time and returns to London for meetings, for example advising the prime minister alongside Olly Robbins,” a spokesman said.
“It is a gross distortion to suggest there are turf wars between departments. The work undertaken to negotiate the UK’s exit from the EU has seen an unprecedented level of co-operation between the FCO, Dexeu and the UK Permanent Representation to the EU, while also drawing on the expertise of other government departments.”
Part of the reason Sir Tim’s family are understood to have stayed in London is because three of his four children are in their mid-teens and doing exams.
Figures released by the government yesterday revealed that the Foreign Office spent £6 million last year paying for the school fees of 174 UK-based staff to provide continuity of education in case they were required to serve overseas at short notice.
The Foreign Office would not comment on whether Sir Tim received the continuity of education allowance.
