Just days after clinching a deal on the first phase of Brexit talks, David Davis’ interview with the BBC’s Andrew Marr has already angered the EU and set back trade talks until March. He’s certainly proving his point that you “don’t have to be very clever” to do his job.
Yesterday the Brexit secretary told LBC’s Nick Ferrari: “What’s a requirement of my job? I don’t have to be very clever, I don’t have to know that much, I do just have to be calm.”
But Davis should have been more savvy during his Sunday encounter with Marr, when he insisted that Friday’s agreement was “much more a statement of intent than it was a legally enforceable thing”.
The European Parliament has already amended a draft resolution on the deal, saying Davis’ comments “undermine the good faith” built in the negotiations. What’s more, the parliament – which can veto the final Brexit deal – now insists that last Friday’s deal must be “fully translated” into the eventual Withdrawal Agreement to ensure the UK “respects the commitments” it has made.
Guy Verhofstadt, the parliament’s Brexit coordinator, said Davis had scored “an own goal”.
Meanwhile, EU countries have toughened their stance ahead of this week’s European Council. Draft guidelines on the next phase of the talks have been made “Davis-proof”, a senior EU official told the FT. Gone is a suggestion that “preliminary and preparatory” discussions on trade can begin early next year. The text now says trade talks will only begin after EU governments agree additional guidance for the talks between themselves. This will only be adopted in March.
The situation Davis has landed the government in is most likely a result of playing to the Brextremist gallery on the Tory backbenches. It’s further proof that, even when they seem to be making a little headway, May and her ministers continue to botch Brexit.