Lord Kerslake on surprise move of top Brexit official

The former head of the civil service Lord Kerslake has said the move of the Brexit permanent secretary Oliver Robbins from the Department for Exiting the European Union to the Cabinet office is like "rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic".

The cross-bench peer told Radio 4's The World at One that "it seems an odd point to make this kind of change".

He also said he worried about what kind of message it would send to the European Commission about the UK's capability because "they have some concerns already about where we are going in these negotiations, I can only imagine this will add to those concerns".