As a career diplomat in the UK Peter Boxer had some tough assignments over the years.

He has been posted to places such as Iraq and he helped beind the scenes for Donald Trump’s first visit as US President to London.

Now, as the new director of external relations in the cabinet office, he is facing the challenge of ensuring the Isle of Man’s voice is heard in the UK corridors of power over the thorny subject of Brexit.

He told Business News: ’I don’t have any particular insight into how the most difficult decisions around Brexit are being taken and the strategy inside Number 10.

’But hopefully I can bring that knowledge of how Whitehall works and Westminster works to the (Brexit) team here.’

A career diplomat for more than 20 years, he has been posted in Iraq, Morocco, in Cyprus, and spent some time working with the French government .

He has also been involved in helping to organise a number of major events including co-ordinating some of the security around Donald Truimp’s first visit to the UK.

And he worked behind the scenes on the last visit of the heads of the Commonwealth to London.

’I’ve also worked on NATO summits and G8 summits and various other things like that.’

Asked by Business News how that compares with the Brexit work he said: ’I came here deliberately because I wanted a job that was meaningful, where you could make changes that would mean something to people.

’I’ve arrived here to find an exceptional welcome from my bosses and my team.

’And people that really want to make a difference, and that’s the excitement for me here.’

Speaking to Business News shortly after a Brexit breakfast meeting at the Sefton Hotel, Douglas, he said: ’On Brexit it’s tangible. Although as the Chief Minister said this morning we can’t change the strategic direction of the UK in how they are going to approach this.

’But we have a job of work to do to ensure that the UK is fully mindful of the Isle of Man’s needs as we go forward.

’And they are listening.

’And that’s the thing that’s been really pleasing.’

He referred to something his colleague David Corlett, the head of the Brexit team in the government, said at the meeting, that the island has an ’unprecedented level of access at the moment into Whitehall’.

He believes the UK’s civil servants want to ensure that they fully understand the needs of the Crown Dependencies.

Business News suggested that there appeared to be still a feeling among businesses in the island, represented by those who attended the meeting, of uncertainty and that they just want the Brexit saga to be sorted out.

He said: ’We are over 1,000 days now (into the Brexit story) and businesses need certainty to make long term financial decisions.

’I absolutely get that.

’I think the determination of the new British prime minister is clear from what he has said.’

He referred to Boris Johnson’s new Brexit chief negotiator David Frost who he described as ’a very impressive operator who I have known from before.’

He said Mr Frost had said: ’’Woe betide to anyone that does not believe Boris Johnson is absolutely determined to get this done.’’

Asked what he thought the best outcome for the island would be he said: ’That the UK gets the best possible deal it can. We are so dependent on our links with the UK and the economy of the UK.

’The better deal the UK gets then the better it is for the Isle of Man.

’I think the risk, which I do not see as a likely risk at all, but it’s one that we have to be very mindful of, is we must do everything we can to avoid (the Isle of Man) having any kind of border.

’People talk about the border across the island of Ireland.

’The one that would be much more impactful for us of course would be any kind of border between Liverpool and Douglas or Heysham and Douglas.

’There’s nothing to suggest that anything like that will happen but we need to keep on working hard with our UK colleagues to make sure there is no barrier to frictionless trade between the Isle of Man and the UK.’

He explained that he thought the worst case scenario would be anything that interrupted frictionless trade between the island and the UK.

’That’s what we must absolutely avoid.’

He added that there were elements of no deal planning that were important and that we get right around contingency planning.

’People talk about medicines for example, and food safety. That is incredibly important. As things stand today I feel pretty reassured that the UK is working hard to get that right and they are including us in discussions on an almost daily basis. But things can change.

’A week is a long time in politics and so is six months so let’s see where we get to .

’The UK PM is now in place and he’s clearly determined (for Brexit to take place by October 31.)’

Mr Boxer said that Boris Johnson’s cabinet reshuffle had brought in some figures who were friends of the island.

For instance he said the new Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Michael Gove MP, who is playing an important role in Brexit planning, is ’a great friend of the island.’

He included Cabinet member Nicky Morgan MP in this too.

Mr Boxer is now three months into his role as executive director of external relations in the Cabinet office.

He took over from Della Fletcher and admitted: ’I think it will take nine years and nine months before people stop introducing me as the ’’new Della’’.’

More than 100 business people attended the Sefton meeting which was hosted by the Isle of Man Business Network. Also on the panel was Michael Crowe, chief executive of IoM Finance, which comes under the Department for Enterprise umbrella and Sandra Skuszka, collector of customs and excise.

Mr Crowe told Business News: ’Businesses in a wider sense do not like uncertainty.

’They just want it to end.

’People want clarity based on the facts and circumstances of where we find ourselves now.

’We find ourselves in an odd situation. We understand the official position that the UK will leave on October 31 but we don’t really know if that is going to happen. So the uncertainty continues.’

He said that the financial services industry in the island looks at a market around the world.

’From a business perspective in the Isle of Man is that we would want to avoid any instability within the UK because of the ripple effect that would have on a day to day basis in the island. I would say businesses in the island probably want a deal to happen for us to be able to move forward on a stable basis with the minimum of interruptions as possible.’ Simon Nicholas from KPMG chaired the event and said there had been more than 1,000 days of uncertainty.