Britain's Hill, an EU convert, steps down after Brexit vote

Britain's European Commissioner Jonathan Hill, a eurosceptic convert to the EU who announced his resignation Saturday, is a pragmatic dealmaker given a plum job as an olive branch to London by his boss Jean-Claude Juncker.

A member of Britain's House of Lords, officially styled The Lord Hill of Oareford, the 55-year-old was sent to Brussels by David Cameron in 2014 where was given the financial services portfolio.

The velvet-voiced Hill stepped down Saturday, the latest high-level casualty of Britain's vote Thursday to leave the EU, saying he now believed membership benefitted the country.

"I came to Brussels as someone who had campaigned against Britain joining the euro and who was sceptical about Europe," Hill said in a statement.

"I will leave it certain that, despite its frustrations, our membership was good for our place in the world and good for our economy."

Juncker said he had tried to persuade Hill to stay -- even taking him to lunch to plead his case, a source told AFP -- as the EU and Britain squabbled over how and when to begin what promises to be torturous exit negotiations.

"I consider him to be a true European and not just the British Commissioner," Juncker said.

Hill, a close ally of Cameron, was bloodied by Britain's disastrous exit from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism, the forerunner of the single euro currency that he famously mistrusts.

- 'Really important' -

In the following years Hill consistently opposed any increase in the powers handed over to Brussels but on his appointment two years ago went along with Cameron's position that Britain's interests were "best served by playing a leading role in the EU".

Before joining the Commission Hill was leader of the Lords, the upper chamber of Britain's parliament.

He was little known outside Westminster and in Brussels he kept a low profile even though he was in charge of  portfolio crucial to the health of the City of London, one of the world's most important financial centres.

European sources said Juncker gave him the "really important" job as a way of reaching out to Britain ahead of its membership negotiations and the subsequent referendum.

Hill's first political job was as a junior Conservative party researcher in 1985.

The Cambridge University graduate was soon promoted as special adviser to veteran pro-European Conservative MP Kenneth Clarke before taking a break from politics and spending two years in public relations. 

Impressed by John Major's rise to power from humble roots, Hill sought to re-enter politics and eventually became the Conservative prime minister's political secretary in 1992.

After another spell in PR, Cameron appointed him to the House of Lords in 2010 as a junior minister in the education ministry.

Hill rose to be Leader of the House of Lords in 2012, becoming a member of the cabinet.