‘The country made its views clear. What part of that don’t people understand?’
Liam Fox insists that there is still a strong mandate for leaving the EU
If you’re looking for the inspiration behind Brexit, Liam Fox’s walls are a good place to start. His office overlooking Downing Street is scattered with memorabilia from the century that saw Britain become the most powerful nation on earth.
In one corner stands a 6.5ft-high replica of Queen Victoria’s coat of arms. Nearby are two paintings of The Great Exhibition, that 1851 parade of the British Empire’s prowess.
Elsewhere are depictions of paddle boats on the British coast, portraits of great industrialists and a grandfather clock that kept time for the original Board of Trade.
“I wanted every one to tell a story,” says Dr Fox, explaining his 19th century selections from the Government Art Collection.
To Brexiteers, this is the buccaneering spirit that Britain will soon rekindle; for critics, it is an idealised past that can never be recaptured. Whichever it is, Dr Fox will play a part in making it happen.
Installed as International Trade Secretary by Theresa May last July and reappointed this month, Dr Fox is in charge of securing the string of trade deals promised during the EU referendum.
The job has taken him all over the world in the past year, most recently to Tokyo, in between knocking on doors in North Somerset during the election campaign. Speaking to The Sunday Telegraph exactly a year after the referendum, Dr Fox remains determined to deliver Brexit.
Path to exit
Remainers have been emboldened by Mrs May’s election flop. The failure to secure a Tory a majority has been taken by some as a rejection of a hard Brexit.
But for Dr Fox, the fact that more than 80 per cent of the country picked parties that want the UK out of the single market is seen as a fresh endorsement.
Indeed if another referendum was held today, Britain would still vote for the exit door, he says.
“It fills me with a great deal of irritation when I hear people saying ‘those who voted for Brexit didn’t know what they were voting for’ or ‘they only did it because they lacked understanding or were hoodwinked’,” he says.
“I find that hugely condescending. You know, the British voters have had a long time to think about European Union membership and they gave us a clear instruction.
“They didn’t say ‘would you mind thinking about our European Union membership’. They said ‘we ought to leave the European Union’. It’s done, it’s over.
“And those who constantly want to revise the issue, I would give them a dictionary and ask them what they don’t understand about ‘referendum’ and ‘binary’.”
Cabinet splits
Brexit’s inevitability may be agreed among the Cabinet, but the form it takes is not. Philip Hammond, the Chancellor, has gone public with calls for a more business-focused exit rather than prioritising immigration.
Dr Fox, one of the Tory Party’s most famous Eurosceptics, says: “The British public made it very clear in the referendum.
“They wanted us to control our borders. We cannot control our borders when we have unlimited free movement. We gave that commitment, we have to deliver on it.”
Similarly there are differences over Europe’s customs union, which smooths the passage of goods across borders. Mr Hammond confirmed this week that the UK would end its membership but also proposed retaining some of the benefits indefinitely.
Dr Fox is relaxed about a transition period for phasing out some of the benefits. But he makes clear he wants the power to sign free trade deals – which means cutting ties with the customs union – from day one of Brexit, due in March 2019.
Trade talks with America are due to start within weeks, with Dr Fox leading the UK working group. A free trade deal with the US, something Donald Trump has publicly backed, is one of Dr Fox’s biggest targets.
Election fallout
Like many of his Cabinet colleagues, Dr Fox was rarely deployed for national campaign events or TV interviews before the election – a strategy now being questioned after the poor result.
The North Somerset MP is reluctant to point fingers – others have blamed Mrs May’s now-departed co-chiefs of staff Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill.
“I think that we didn’t see a range of ministers the way we would normally do,” he says carefully, before adding that criticism is “very easy” with hindsight. But he adds: “We need to think about how centralised our campaigns are in the future.”
Dr Fox is more forthcoming on the failure to tackle Jeremy Corbyn’s giveaway-heavy pitch to voters that included scrapping tuition fees, mass renationalisation and £250billion of extra borrowing.
“There’s always a tendency to believe that you have won these arguments on responsible finances. I think that in particular for young people we need to be brutally clear about the choice,” he says.
“The Labour Party will put a millstone around your neck that you will never recover from during your working life. They will saddle you with debt and tax to pay for their popularity.
“That’s a message that we need to hammer home, especially for younger voters. What Corbyn was offering was a dangerous confidence trick that would leave the next generation with massive levels of debt.”
Unlike other Tory colleagues, Dr Fox – who worked as a GP before entering politics – does not thinking easing back on austerity is the answer to the Tories’ woes.
“Austerity is living within your means,” he says, warning of spiralling interest payments from a spending spree. “I’m afraid we need to keep pushing these arguments back.”
Leadership rumours
Dr Fox lost the Tory leadership contest to Mrs May last year. Yet he is unfailingly loyal, saying that the way she has coped with a bruising month that included three terrorist attacks, an election flop and the Grenfell blaze shows her strengths.
“I think one of her strongest characteristics is resilience,” he says. “Clearly she’s disappointed at the outcome of the election.
“But she’s done what you would expect her to do, which is to throw herself into making the best of the situation.”
And what of those who speak of a new leader?
“Bar the couple of months after each leadership change we’ve had, I don’t ever recall a time when there wasn’t constant speculation. I take it as the background noise of British politics,” he says.
“It’s time to rally around the Prime Minister and get on with the task we’ve been set by the voters.”
He makes a point of saying Mrs May can last the full five years until 2022. But would Dr Fox – already twice defeated in Tory leadership races – go for a third bid? “I think we should not even answer questions on that because it only continues the speculation,” he says.
Which is different from “no”.
‘Labour will saddle young people with debt and tax to pay for their popularity’