Rebel who watched car crash at Grand Prix — then sparked one of his own
AS LEWIS Hamilton’s car spun off the track at the British Grand Prix on Sunday, the Brexit Secretary David Davis, unnoticed in the vast crowd, smiled wryly. For months he’d been looking forward to taking his second daughter Sarah, whom he affectionately calls ‘Petrol Head’ because of her love of Formula 1, to Silverstone.
And Davis had no intention of allowing his decision to resign to interfere. Friends — and journalists — had been told in no uncertain terms that he was out of contact that day. He did, though, take one telephone call during the afternoon.
It was from Boris Johnson, who knew Davis was close to quitting or had already decided to go. As the scream of engines echoed down the phone, Johnson was left in no doubt that Davis would announce his resignation later that night. Not for the first time, Johnson had yet to make up his own mind about whether he would follow.
It was, however, the imminent political car crash he knew was coming rather than Hamilton’s collision during the opening lap that was preoccupying Davis.
The events leading up to it began Monday last week when he saw the PM in her Downing Street study. She outlined the policy — for a Facilitated Customs Arrangement (FCA) — that she would unveil to the Cabinet at Chequers. A policy that, unbelievably, the Brexit Secretary knew little about.
He left having made it clear to Mrs May that it would not be acceptable to either the EU or Tory Brexiteers. The following day, he was given a further briefing by Jim Harra, deputy chief executive of HMRC, and it became clear the proposal had been marinating for weeks, if not months, in No 10 — but no one had told Davis.
‘It wasn’t just the fact the customs plan wouldn’t work, it was the duplicity of it,’ according one senior source. ‘Why was no one telling us what was going on.’
The next afternoon, Davis received the 120-page FCA report which was to be discussed at Chequers. He wrote a detailed letter to the PM outlining his objections, but she didn’t want to know.
‘Chequers was a done deal,’ said the source. The FCA proposal was the only item on the agenda. Davis now had to reluctantly accept that he not only was no longer in charge of Brexit negotiations but had been frozen out altogether.
Mrs May had delegated responsibility to Olly Robbins, her Permanent Secretary at the Home Office when she was Home Secretary, and the first senior civil servant in charge of Davis’s Department for Exiting the European Union. But the men had repeatedly clashed, not least because Davis suspected Robbins was reporting to Downing Street, and the relationship collapsed.
Last September, Robbins moved into the Europe Unit in the Cabinet Office reporting directly to May. At that point, ‘the pretence of who was who’s boss was over,’ said a source close to Davis.
In the ensuing months, Davis’s supporters say he was the victim of negative briefings from No 10, variously suggesting he was ‘lazy’, ‘not on top of his brief’ and only willing to work a four- day week. To his credit, Davis had ignored the jibes and forged ahead with his plans for Brexit.
It was only after that stage-managed summit at Chequers — at the end of which the Prime Minister declared triumphantly she had unanimous Cabinet agreement for the FCA and her ‘third way’ proposal on Brexit — that matters came to a head.
Davis had made his feelings clear again at the summit, warning not only that the EU would reject it but would demand even more concessions. He did, however, end up agreeing to support the idea of collective Cabinet responsibility. Within 24 hours, he knew he could not, as a matter of principle, remain as Brexit Secretary — not least because he couldn’t stomach the thought of selling Mrs May’s deal to EU leaders.
It is a career-ending resignation and Davis knows it. Now 69, he is a former SAS reservist who had a successful career in management before he was elected MP for Haltemprice and Howden in Yorkshire in 1987.
At Westminster, his talent was soon spotted and he became Deputy Chief Whip under John Major and then Europe Minister. A front runner to succeed Michael Howard as Tory leader in 2005, he crashed and burned after a poor party conference speech, and David Cameron succeeded.
His relationship with Cameron, as his Shadow Home Secretary, was never good, with the Old Etonian set privately sneering at Davis’s working-class background (the son of a single mother, he grew up in a South London council house).
Davis resigned in 2008 on the issue of civil liberties and triggered a by-election in his Commons seat. He won it back but was consigned to the backbenches, where he earned the reputation of being a serial rebel who clashed repeatedly with the then Home Secretary, one Theresa May.
But when May formed her first Cabinet in 2016, Davis seemed a shrewd choice as Brexit Secretary as he knew his way round Brussels. They got on well personally and even yesterday Davis was insisting she is a good Prime Minister.
Yet for the past two years, Davis has wanted to publish a White Paper on Brexit laying out Britain’s vision, but he has been thwarted by May and Robbins.
Late on Sunday, back home from the Grand Prix, there was a call from Boris’s people who said the Foreign Secretary still hadn’t decided whether to quit.
But Davis had already spoken to the PM before the formal exchange of letters. In the end, his decision came down to a simple fact. He couldn’t reconcile his conscience with the customs compromise which he believes betrays the votes of 17.4 million people. Only time will tell if he’s right.