Davis aide says May wants a ‘Hotel California’ Brexit

DAVID Davis’s former chief-of-staff last night accused Theresa May of pursuing a ‘Hotel California Brexit’ – where Britain checks out but never leaves.

Stewart Jackson criticised the PM for listening to civil servants rather than her Brexit Secretary, who resigned on Sunday.

In a series of tweets, the former Tory MP said Mrs May’s chief Europe adviser, Olly Robbins, had blocked Mr Davis from publishing a white paper earlier this year because he was not proposing ‘the Hotel California Brexit delivered at Chequers’. Mr Jackson accused Downing Street of keeping their Chequers plan secret from Mr Davis until three days before the Cabinet away day.

He also dismissed Mrs May’s director of communications, Robbie Gibb, as an ‘ersatz Brexiteer’, adding: ‘I’ve plenty more to say about the Government’s handling of Brexit but all in good time.’ The tweets came after Mr Jackson accused No 10 of refusing to allow the new Brexit Secretary keep him in post.

He wrote: ‘Dominic Raab was gracious and generous in asking me to stay on but he was overruled. I admit I stood shoulder to shoulder with DD [David Davis] to deliver Brexit and that annoyed the Europe Unit [run by Mr Robbins] who are now running the show.’

Mr Jackson’s wife Sarah O’Grady tweeted: ‘Gutted for Stewie. Backroom boys using the PM’s name. Am sure she doesn’t know.’

Meanwhile, the Commons European scrutiny committee has summoned Mr Robbins to give evidence on EU withdrawal.

Mr Robbins has come under fire from some Brexiteers who accuse him of softening Mrs May’s line on Brexit.

Mr Jackson was appointed to the role by Mr Davis after he lost his Peterborough seat in last year’s election.

IN a blistering parting shot, the outgoing chief of staff at the Brexit department accuses Olly Robbins – the Europhile zealot civil servant behind last week’s dismal Chequers compromise – of pursuing a ‘Hotel California Brexit’.

Thus, Stewart Jackson invokes the words of the Eagles’ hit: ‘You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave!’

Is this to be our fate, with Mr Robbins now ‘running the show’ and the new Brexit Secretary sidelined, like the last?

Dominic Raab, who replaces David Davis, is a highly intelligent and able lawyer, with a strong mind of his own. A profound Eurosceptic, he has made the EU his special study for years.

It will be an outrage if the appeasers and obfuscators in the Civil Service obstruct his quest to secure the best deal for Britain.