EU chief Jean-Claude Juncker makes anti-Brit eurocrat Michel Barnier his Brexit negotiator

EU boss Jean-Claude Juncker has made a well-known anti-Brit eurocrat his Brexit negotiator, in a move dubbed “alarm bells” for London.

Former commissioner Michel Barnier plotted for years to weaken the UK’s financial powerhouse.

The federalist Frenchman lead unsuccessful charges to enforce a crippling tax on all financial transactions and hit bankers with punitive bonus caps.

Mr Barnier is also said to have blamed Britain for losing his job as foreign minister when the French Government lost a referendum on the European Constitution.

Even pro-EU former Deputy PM Nick Clegg said “alarm bells will be ringing” after the 65-year-old Brussels veteran’s appointment, adding that he is “no friend of the City of London”.

But Mr Juncker dubbed Monsieur Barnier his “friend” and “a skilled negotiator” as he began to lay down battle lines for ultra-tough Brexit talks with PM Theresa May yesterday.

He added: “I wanted an experienced politician for this difficult job”.

The EU Commission boss has already taken a hard line by demanding Britain trigger Article 50 to begin its formal departure as soon as possible.

But the PM has insisted he wait until 2017 to give her a chance to draw up a negotiating plan.

Ministers saw the controversial hiring as Mr Juncker’s bid to trump his great rival, EU Council president Donald Tusk.

Cabinet minister told The Sun: “This is Juncker’s power play to get one over on Tusk. Barnier is well liked among the EU elite federalists and in the European Parliament.

“They will want him to do the talking with us rather than the Council’s representative now, which gives Juncker himself more of a say.”

Monsieur Barnier – who said he was “honoured to do the job – will go head to head with ex-SAS reservist Brexit Secretary David Davis, in a re-run of their clashes 20 years ago when both men were Europe ministers in the 1990s.

He was nicknamed “le cretin des Alpes” by Paris’s elite, because of his origins in the Savoy mountains where locals are teased for being slow.

The senior politician is also famed for loving TV cameras, with one diplomat saying of him: “He is so cute that if he was an ice cream he would eat himself”.

A Government spokesman said: “We’ve said it’s important that both sides prepare for the negotiations.

“We look forward to working with representatives from the Member States, the Council and the Commission to ensure an orderly departure of the UK from the EU.”