Downing Street stands by under-fire Steve Baker over civil service Brexit conspiracy row
4 min read
Downing Street has insisted it is standing by Brexit minister Steve Baker despite mounting controversy over his suggestion that the civil service may be trying to sabotage Brexit.
A top union leader suggested Theresa May should consider sacking Mr Baker over comments he made in the Commons.
The minister told MPs he had heard that Treasury officials had doctored economic forecasts in an attempt to convince ministers that remaining in the customs union was the best option for the UK after Brexit.
In extraordinary scenes, Mr Baker's boss, Brexit Secretary David Davis, visibly winced at the remark, which came in response to a question by Jacob Rees-Mogg, chair of the Tory backbench European Research Group.
Mr Baker said it was “essentially correct” to say he had heard the rumour from Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform think tank.
"I think we must proceed with great caution in this matter, but I have heard him raise this issue,” he said.
“I think we have to be very careful not to take this forward in an appropriate way but he has reminded me of something I heard and I think it would be quite extraordinary if it turned out that such a thing had happened."
Mr Grant, who was alleged to have made the claim at a private lunch at last year's Conservative Party conference, swiftly denied the claim.
He said: "I recall saying to Steve Baker ... that I was aware of research that the Treasury had done.
"This apparently showed that the economic benefits of the UK forging FTAs (free trade agreements) with third countries outside the EU were significantly less than the economic costs of leaving the customs union.
"I did not say or imply that the Treasury had deliberately developed a model to show that all non-customs union options were bad, with the intention to influence policy."
Tory MP Antoniette Sandbach, who was also at the launch, took to Twitter to say Mr Baker was wrong.
Dave Penman, general secretary of the First Division Association, which represents civil servants, told PoliticsHome: "The Prime Minister should be questioning whether she has confidence in Steve Baker's ability to separate his ideological position with his responsibilities as a minister.
"Is he capable of being a minister? That's only for the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State to decide."
A Downing Street spokesman confirmed that a senior Number 10 aide had spoken to Mr Baker in the wake of the controversy over his Commons appearance.
He said: "We have spoken to Steve Baker and we have no reason to doubt his account. This relates to a private conversation that took place some time ago.
"We have full confidence in him, he's doing a good job at the Department for Exiting the European Union."
Remarkably, it is the second time in 48 hours that Mr Baker has appeared to question the impartiality of government officials.
He claimed in the Commons on Tuesday that secret government analysis of the effects of Brexit had been leaked to the media in an attempt to "undermine" the UK's withdrawal from the EU.
Meanwhile, Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood appeared to take a swipe at Mr Baker on Twitter by praising the work that civil servants do to help ministers form evidence-based policy.
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