Others have suggested that the UK could draw on favours from other Commonwealth nations, like New Zealand, to offer their assistance.

Murray McCully, the country’s foreign minister, said this week that he had “made an offer that we as a country that this is a long-standing friend… stands ready to be be useful in any way that we can be”.

On the issue of trade negotiators, he said New Zealand would obviously look at what the UK government “ask us for and whether we have it”. The civil service may have more luck in procuring from Commonwealth allies than if it looks towards Brussels.

While Britons might make up 4pc of the European Commission’s staff, Lord Turnbull said that “even if we repatriated them all, it isn’t going to make much” of a difference.

Advocates for leaving the EU correctly point out that the customs union has declined as an export destination for the UK. Yet it remains the country’s largest trading partner and settling on new trading arrangements with both Brussels and other markets may mean that the civil service leans on a thin and inexperienced team.