Thread by @jillongovt

Its bureaucrat day @ukandeu #Brexitwitnessarchive where we feature interviews with former UK perm rep Ivan Rogers and former Commission official Jonathan Faull - two sides of the Cameron renegotiation. Ivan is as forthright as you might expect.

Rogers takes the view that the 2011 European Council was a key turning point - when David Cameron realised a veto was not enough

lots of gory details on how we got there.. and lots of Whitehall recriminations afterwards.. but what mattered is where it ended up

and how that ended up in the Bloomberg speech

we talk a lot about the UK not understanding the EU - but the Europeans were baffled by our politics too

and how David Cameron made the decision - against the advice of officials - on timing

as an aside - Rogers on the dangers when politicians run with ideas from think tanks (in this case Open Europe) - and the need for officials to give unwelcome advice

straight after the 2015 election, officials gave Cameron options for the renegotiation

and how you have to approach an EU negotiation

Rogers says that to his credit Cameron was really interested in governance reform not migration - but did he miscalculate on that?

and a fascinating moment of introspection from Cameron on why he was failing to make headway with even countries he regarded as allies on Europe

and that led to a tilt to "British exceptionalism" rather than whole of Europe reform

Rogers thinks the UK should have been exploring what leaving would look like- and visibly be preparing for it, much, much earlier

and remember all those times that the UK thought that the Council/leaders would come to the rescue over the Commission .. er no, says Rogers (and a big shout-out to @MartinSelmayr

and Rogers's judgment that at the end of the day the renegotiation was irrelevant

an insight into the mindset in UKRep after the referendum - remember lots of people had shown up to run the 2017 UK Presidency

and what staff needed to think about going forward

on the impossible brief handed Olly Robbins by asking him to be perm sec at DExEU (a mistake in Rogers' view) and sherpa at the same time

on how brexit policy was being made under Theresa May - officials and advisers - no room for her Brexit secretary or Foreign secretary

officials weren't consulted about the May conference speeches

add to that Amber Rudd's speech and May's second speech with red lines - and things start to fall apart for Rogers

On how the EU had its game plan ready - and the problems for the perm rep in communicating back to London

On realising its time to go

and a final verdict on the party conference

a final word on the loss of UK capacity in the civil service on Europe (big theme in @matt_bevington report on UKrep out last week)

Lots more in the full interview ukandeu.ac.uk/brexit-witness…

and read that report on UKRep and @UKMisBrussels as well ukandeu.ac.uk/research-paper…

and for the other side, read our interview with @FaullJonathan ukandeu.ac.uk/brexit-witness…

Loads more on Ireland .. miscalculations and life in Brussels ENDS