Over the course of the past three years, the United Kingdom’s political leadership has been in the middle of a meltdown due to the Brexit referendum. After the resignation of the then Prime Minister David Cameron, the mantle was taken up by Theresa May, and her main objective was to secure a deal so that the United Kingdom could leave the European Union. The man who had been charged with taking care of the negotiations with the EU representatives was Olly Robbins. He was the Chief Brexit negotiator in Theresa May’s government, but after the latter’s resignation, Robbins was no longer the man in charge in current Prime Minister, Boris Johnson’s administration. According to an announcement by the Cabinet Officer in the United Kingdom, Robbins is now all set to go on a sabbatical, and once it is done, he is going to join the investment banking giant Goldman Sachs.
Over the years, plenty of people who have worked in high places in the governments of the United States and the United Kingdom have gone on to join Goldman Sachs. Conversely, many executives at Goldman Sachs have also gone on to work at influential positions in governments. Hence, it is not entirely a surprise that Robbins has decided to join the elite investment bank after having held down one of the most high profile jobs in the United Kingdom over the past few years. While Robbins had negotiated a series of deals with the EU, each of them was eventually voted down by pro-Brexit Members of Parliament. However, the country is now in bigger political turmoil due to the failure of current Prime Minister, Boris Johnson to push through his policies.
Although Boris Johnson had voted against the deals that had been negotiated by Robbins, he was gracious in his statement with regards to his sabbatical. Robbins is going to go off to the prestigious University of Oxford during his sabbatical on a fellowship that has been instituted in the name of Jeremy Heywood, one of Britain’s former Cabinet Secretaries. The Prime Minister said,
“I am delighted that Olly will be the first Permanent Secretary to take up this Fellowship in Jeremy Heywood’s memory, which follows his many years of dedication to public service in a variety of different roles.”
Once the fellowship ends, he is going to start working for the Investment Banking Division at Goldman Sachs.