Chris Barton CMG
Biography
Chris Barton was His Majesty’s Trade Commissioner for Europe from August 2021 to August 2025.
Prior to his appointment Chris spent 8 years leading on trade issues in the UK government, as Director for:
- Trade Policy and Export Control (2013 to 2016, BIS)
- Multilateral and EU Trade Negotiations (2016 to 2019, DIT)
- Bilateral Trade Relations (2019 to 2020, DIT)
- UK-EU Goods Negotiations (2020 to 2021, Number 10)
He was also acting Director General for Trade Negotiations in DIT from February to June 2021. He was awarded a CMG by Her Majesty the Queen in 2019 for his services to trade, diversity and inclusion.
Before moving into the world of trade and investment, Chris spent 5 years (1993 to 1998) as a secondary school teacher. This was followed by 15 years (1998 to 2013) in a range of Civil Service roles in Departments for Business, Energy and Foreign Office. His roles covered a variety of domestic, European and wider international issues including telecoms, competition policy, company law, employment law, renewable energy and energy security.
Chris is married with 3 children.
Previous roles in government
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HM Trade Commissioner for Europe
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HM Trade Commissioner for Europe