It's a multi-national diplomatic tussle involving 28 nations and an entire government department.

But a Welshpool man is set to play a key role in the UK's European Union Departure negotiations after being named as a right hand man to Brexit secretary Steve Barclay.

Craig Williams, who was born in Welshpool and now lives in Llanfair Caereinion, took up as Special Adviser to the Secretary of State for Leaving the European Union on Monday, April 8.

"It was certainly too good an opportunity to turn down," he said.

"When someone calls you up and asks you to help with something like this you don't say no.

"It's been a philosophy of my career really - when anyone has presented me with an opportunity I've said yes and it's a strategy that's served me well."

Mr Davies, who has previously served as MP for Cardiff North between May 2015 and June 2017, will be based between London and Brussels for most of the week, but will travel back to Montgomeryshire on weekends, the place where he began his political career as a fresh-faced teenager working as a researcher for Glyn Davies MP.

Mr Davies welcomed the appointment of Craig, and said there was "no bigger job in Government" then working on the country's Brexit deal.

"Over the decades, Montgomeryshire has produced several influential politicians. I am pleased to have played a part in developing the career of another politician to take his place in the heart of Government," he said.

"I’ve known Craig since he left Welshpool High School to work with me in my Montgomeryshire constituency office when I was an Assembly Member. I always knew he was destined for great things.

"Over the last few years he has broadened his knowledge and honed his political skills working in the National Assembly, as a Cardiff City Councillor and as a Member of Parliament. I was really pleased when the irresistible ‘pull’ of Montgomeryshire brought him back to his family roots.

"At present there is no bigger job in Government that delivering on the referendum vote to leave the European Union, requiring political, negotiating and diplomatic skills, as well as determination. I could think of no-one better suited to this crucial task than Craig," he added.