The 26-video was recorded in Sunderland. Video: No.10
Sir Mark Sedwill and Boris Johnson have today issued messages of thanks to the civil service for their work delivering Brexit.
In an internal memo to civil servants, the cabinet secretary said civil servants should take “immense pride” in the work they have done since the 2016 referendum to prepare the UK to leave the European Union.
“While the majority of the almost half million civil servants have continued to deliver the range of public services to their fellow citizens, thousands have thrown themselves into helping ministers deliver our exit from the EU in good order,” he said.
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“There have been some tense moments, and the civil service hasn’t been immune from the controversy which gripped so much of the country, but we should all take immense pride in their efforts as the country moves through this historic inflection point and charts a new course.”
Accompanying Sedwill’s message was a video recorded by the prime minister, branded with the No.10 insignia.
The 26-second video, which is only accessible via a private link and therefore not accessible to the public, appears to have been recorded on Friday in Sunderland.
Johnson was in the city – the first to declare for Brexit on the night of the 2016 referendum – where Johnson was hosting a cabinet meeting ahead of the UK’s departure from the EU.
“I’ve thanked the voters, I’ve thanked loads of politicians. There’s one group of people without whom this would not have been possible, that is the civil service of the United Kingdom,” Johnson said.
“And whatever you may have thought about it from the beginning, the civil service of this country has risen to the challenge: with fantastic professionalism, with determination, you’ve got Brexit done, and you’ve done a brilliant job."