Name Oliver Robbins | Role Civil servant | |
 | ||
Farage calls civil servants "enemy within"
Oliver Robbins, CB (born 20 April 1975) is a senior British civil servant who served in several roles and was Permanent Secretary at the Department for Exiting the European Union until September 2017. Robbins now serves as Brexit advisor for 10 Downing Street.
Contents
Early life and education
Robbins was born 20 April 1975. He was educated at Colfe's School, an independent school in Lee, London. He studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) at Hertford College, Oxford. He graduated from the University of Oxford with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1996.
Career
Robbins joined HM Treasury in 1996 on graduation, serving as Head of Corporate and Private Finance from 2003-2006, and then briefly as Head of Defence, Diplomacy and Intelligence finance.
Robbins was appointed as Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister at 10 Downing Street in 2006, replacing Ivan Rogers for the last part of Tony Blair's administration and the start of Gordon Brown's. When Brown re-set the Prime Minister's Office organisation to be more like its pre-1997 form, Robbins briefly served as Director of the Office before leaving Number 10 per se in 2007 to become the Director of Intelligence and Security — later, Director of Intelligence, Security and Resilience — in the Cabinet Office. In 2010, David Cameron's incoming administration re-organised the UK's national security apparatus, and Robbins post was re-formulated as the Deputy National Security Advisor responsible for Intelligence, Security and Resilience.
In January 2014, Robbins was appointed Director-General, Civil Service at the Cabinet Office. In September 2015, Robbins moved to the Home Office as their Second Permanent Secretary under Mark Sedwill.
In July 2016, Robbins was appointed the head of the European and Global Issues Secretariat, advising the Prime Minister on the EU and so oversee Britain's exit from the European Union. Shortly thereafter, the secretariat was moved out of the Cabinet Office to become a full department, the Department for Exiting the European Union, of which he became the permanent secretary. On September 18, 2017, Robbins stepped down as Brexit Secretary to become Prime Minister Theresa May's personal Brexit advisor.
Honours
In the 2015 Queen's Birthday Honours, Robbins was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) "for public service".