Theresa May urged to sack minister for suggesting civil service is trying to sabotage Brexit
4 min read
Theresa May has been urged to sack a minister who suggested the civil service is trying to sabotage Brexit.
Steve Baker 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.
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."
The exchange was supposed to have taken place at a lunch organised by Prospect magazine at last year's Conservative party conference in Manchester.
But audio of Mr Grant's remarks did not appear to support Mr Baker's version of event.
And in a statement, he said: "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."
Conservative MP Antoinette Sandbach, who was also at the lunch, backed up Mr Grant.
She said: "Mr Rees-Mogg claims 'that officials in the Treasury have deliberately developed a model to show that all options other than staying in the customs union were bad and that officials intended to use this to influence policy'. Mr Grant did not say this, or anything to this effect.
"Mr Rees-Mogg was not even in attendance at the meeting. This is a clear attempt to malign a member of the public from the floor of the House of Commons, who is unable to respond in kind."
Mr Baker was spoken to by a senior Downing Street aide about the controversy, but a spokesman insisted the Prime Minister retained "full confidence" in him.
"We have spoken to Steve Baker and we have no reason to doubt his account," the spokesman said. "This relates to a private conversation that took place some time ago."
One senior Tory MP told PoliticsHome: "He should be composing his letter of resignation. He won't be and unless the PM sacks him it will be proof of who is running the Government - the hard Brexiteers."
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."
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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