WATCH Brexit minister brands quit rumours 'fake news' and challenges journalist to provide 'proof'
3 min read
Brexit minister Suella Braverman has insisted she never planned to follow her boss David Davis out of the Government, branding the claims "fake news" and demanding "proof" from a reporter.
Ms Braverman - a former chairman of the Brexiteer-backing European Research Group of Tory MPs - was rumoured to have left the Government alongside the then-Brexit secretary Mr Davis and fellow minister Steve Baker, who both quit over Theresa May's Chequers Brexit plan.
But Ms Braverman today parroted US President Donald Trump, insisting the claims lacked substance and saying she would "love to see the proof" she ever spoke to journalists about her plans.
Asked whether she had ever planned to quit, she told the Daily Politics: "I didn't resign. I mean, there was a lot of news about me allegedly resigning, a very good example, to quote the American President of 'fake news'.
"But I didn't resign. And I didn't resign because I'm supporting the position of the Government, I'm supporting the Prime Minister and I want to deliver a really good Brexit."
However, asked directly whether she had considered leaving her Government job, Ms Braverman said: "Well, I think when your Secretary of State, David Davis, with whom I've worked very closely, and Steve Baker, make a really important decision about their careers for very personal reasons, you don't just carry on in oblivion to that happening - of course you look around you and you see what's happening.
"But at the end of the day I'm very confident in the programme that we've adopted."
As rumours swirled about her fate on the morning after Mr Davis' dramatic Cabinet storm out, the Brexit minister was filmed walking along Downing Street with the Number 10 director of communications, prompting speculation she was being talked into staying on.
However, Ms Braverman told the Daily Politics she was "just leaving Downing Street to go to Parliament for a meeting."
"And he was accompanying me and we had a meeting and we were talking about what was happening," she added.
The minister also categorically denied talking to Sky reporter Lewis Goodall about her plans.
Mr Goodall was one of the first journalists to report that Ms Braverman had left the Government on the night the Brexit secretary and his minister quit.
But asked whether she had spoken to him, Ms Braverman said: "No... Not at all."
She added: "I'd love to see some proof of that conversation. That never happened. I didn't resign. And I didn't tell anyone about resigning."
Mrs May this morning suffered her ninth resignation since her Brexit deal was signed off by ministers, as ministerial aide Scott Mann quit with a blast at what he called her "watered down" version of leaving the EU.
That came hard on the heels of the resignation of fellow ministerial bag carrier Robert Courts, who said he could not look at himself "in the mirror" if he signed up to the Chequers plan.
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