A senior British diplomat working for the EU has been exposed as a rabid pro-EU Twitter troll who says he wants Britain to “fail hard”.

Chris Kendall, who admits Brexit has taken over his life, spends large amounts of his time trolling Leave voters online, despite working full time for the EU External Action Service, the EU’s equivalent of the Foreign Office.

The mandarin also co-hosts an anti-Brexit podcast and despite claiming to be operating in a personal capacity, spreads pro-EU propaganda throughout the working day under the Twitter handle @ottocrat.

It is possible that the senior diplomat could fall foul of his employer, as it is unclear whether his constant barrage of abuse directed at Leave voters is part of his official duties.

In a professional capacity, he coordinates the monthly foreign policy meetings of European Commissioners, but privately tweeted “do not expect us to roll over and accept it” if Britain regained its independence.

Chris Kendall told BrexitCentral that this tweet was “speaking as one of the 16.1 million who voted Remain in the referendum” but was not written as the position of the EU. He also said his employer had not instructed him to tweet support for the EU.

Kendall added:

“The EU’s Staff Guidelines for Social Media and the EU Staff Regulations guarantee EU staff the right to freedom of expression, and I am taking advantage of that right to express myself in a purely personal capacity.

“I do not try to hide the fact that I work for the EU, I think this is important and useful context to know when reading my tweets or my blog, but I am always very clear that I’m expressing myself in a purely personal capacity, representing only myself.”

An EU spokesperson told BrexitCentral:

“Mr Kendall tweets in his personal capacity, which is also indicated in his twitter description. He tweets in his own time. He is not representing the views of the EU institutions, only his personal opinion.

“Views of EU institutions are communicated through official channels, most notably by Brexit negotiator M Barnier and TF 50 [Taskforce on Article 50 negotiations].”

Kendall, who has dual British-German nationality, claims Brexit is an “assault on democracy“, and has urged his followers to be “extremely wary” of everyone who doesn’t view Brexit as a “personal moral emergency”.



His troll account, which describes Brexiteers as “lunatics” is followed by the UK Foreign Office, where he used to work as a Senior Policy Advisor. He frequently uses Twitter mob tactics to rally his followers who then attack individuals who voted Leave.

Kendall has not made it clear to his followers that under Article 11 of the rights and obligations of officials, he is legally obliged to promote the interests of the EU. However one of his colleagues, Roy Dickinson, has been clear with his followers about his legal obligation.

Kendall initially made his Twitter account private after being contacted by BrexitCentral, but it is now back online.