While Civil Servants have been dragging their feet when it comes to Brexit, the Foreign Office has notoriously been the worst when it comes to accepting the result of the referendum. However, it appears that with Boris Johnson now in Downing Street and Dominic Raab in charge the penny has finally dropped at the FCO that Britain is leaving the EU on October 31. The foreign office’s mandarins realise that after 46 years they will once again be able to unilaterally decide Britain’s trade policy. In preparation the department is procuring £500,000 of training in ‘Advanced Trade Policy’. Better late than never…

The winner of the contract will need to “Design and deliver a bespoke, class-room based, Advanced Trade Policy (ATP) training programme” in order to “to ensure civil servants improve their trade policy expertise” and will endure for two years following its award. Unsurprisingly, the FCO has confirmed the contract is not being financed by EU funds…

UPDATE: FCO press office insist this is part of a continuing programme of training pointing to this tender which closed in January.