May stands by minister after attacks
BRITAIN: British Prime Minister Theresa May has backed her Brexit minister after he cast doubt on the professionalism of civil servants for the second time in a week, sparking a backlash from MPs.
Steve Baker, who was a key figure in the Leave campaign, told the House of Commons yesterday that he had been told by Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform, that Treasury officials had sought to distort modelling on the economic damage caused by Brexit in order to force a change in government policy.
This followed remarks he made on Wednesday that forecasting by civil servants is ‘‘always wrong’’.
Grant denied saying any such thing, and two other people who were present when the supposed remarks were made cast doubt on Baker’s recollection of events. Prospect magazine later released a recording of Grant’s words, which also backed his account.
The First Division Association, the trade union for top civil servants, called Baker’s comments ‘‘the height of irresponsibility’’.
But May stuck by her minister. ‘‘We have no reason to doubt his account,’’ her spokesman said following a meeting between Baker and an aide to the PM.
Supporters of Brexit, including Baker, have spent the week attacking the reliability of the internal government assessment of the impact of different Brexit scenarios, after BuzzFeed reported that all three of the trade deals modelled showed Britain’s economy taking a hit. Some are angry that the work was even done.
Baker was brought into the government last year, having previously chaired the European Research Group, an affiliation of pro-Brexit MPs. That post is now held by Jacob Rees-Mogg, a potential leadership rival to May, whose question in Parliament Baker was answering when he made his remarks.
After jeers from MPs, Baker backtracked, urging colleagues to ‘‘proceed with great caution, because it’s essential we continue to uphold and support the impartiality of the civil service’’.
– Washington Post-Bloomberg