Maverick ex-SAS reservist is no stranger to the spotlight
DAVID DAVIS was the self-proclaimed “charming” b ****** and tough former SAS reservist who was hired by his old nemesis Theresa May to plot a way through the Brexit quagmire.
But in the end the Prime Minister sidelined him, putting mandarin Olly Robbins in charge of tricky exit talks and ignoring the Eurosceptic’s warnings about making concessions to the EU.
True to his reputation as a maverick, the Yorkshire MP eventually felt he had no choice but to resign.
The married father-of-three first honed his negotiating skills in the cut-throat world of big business and even wrote about his negotiating tactics in his 1989 book
recommending a “general air of visible determination” as “extremely important to the perception-shaping exercise”.
But when the 69-year-old turned up for the first round of Brexit negotiations with no notes, he appeared to have forgotten his own advice.
Mr Davis was elected for Haltemprice and Howden in 1997, having originally sat for Boothferry since 1987.
A man with brawn as well as brains, he served as an SAS reservist to help fund himself through a management course at Harvard, after reading molecular science at Warwick University.
He had a tough upbringing by a single mother in a Labour working-class household in south London, and still bears the scar on his upper lip from a crowbar attack in Brixton.
The two-time unsuccessful Conservative leadership contender gained a fearsome reputation after taking a series of ministerial scalps in a previous role of Shadow Home Secretary.
But in 2008, he shocked Westminster by announcing that he was resigning as an MP to “take a stand” against a terror detention plan, sparking a by-election that saw him hold his seat.
He was regarded as the likely successor to Tory leader Michael Howard but was soundly beaten in 2005 by one David Cameron.
From the backbenches he was unafraid to air his libertarian views, and rarely toed the Tory line, making friends with Alastair Campbell and former Liberty director Shami Chakrabarti.
The PM ended his eight-year wilderness on the backbenches to bring him back for one “last job” as Brexit Secretary.
But in the end, he could not see it out. FORMER BREXIT Minister Steve Baker criticised the Prime Minister’s team for “childish nonsense” in its briefings to the media as he spoke hours after departing alongside his boss.
Mr Baker told the BBC he was “furious” at the suggestion that Ministers would be given the number of a local taxi firm if they chose to resign during the Chequers meeting.
He declined to name the person responsible but described them as “absolutely unequal to the task at hand”, adding: “I could almost have resigned over the childishness of that briefing.”
He said: “What we need is great statesmanship, the likes of which few are equal, what we don’t need is childish briefing against colleagues.
“There was an untruth told about whether or not I had a promotion dangled in front of me, no such conversation was had. I am furious about it, but was it enough to take me out of government, no certainly not.”
Mr Baker also admitted his department was out of the loop over the government policy agreed at Chequers, saying that he and Mr Davis had been “blindsided”.