Brexit Minister forced into humiliating retreat after explosive attack on civil service

Steve Baker’s explosive claims sparked a Whitehall civil war but he later apologised after his allegations were disowned by the expert source he said he heard the rumour from. ...Last night Mr Baker said: “This morning in Parliament, I answered a question based on my honest recollection of a conversation. As I said, I considered what I had understood to be implausible, because of the impartiality of the civil service.“The audio of that conversation is now available and I am glad the record stands corrected. In the context of that audio, I accept that I should have corrected the premise of the question.

“I will apologise to Charles Grant, who is an honest and trustworthy man. As I have put on record many times, I have the highest regard for our hard working civil servants. I will clarify my remarks to the House.”

...In a dramatic intervention from close ally Jacob Rees Mogg, Mr Baker was asked in the Commons to confirm he had spoken with the boss of the Centre for European Reform think tank Charles Grant.

Mr Rees Mogg claimed Mr Grant had said “officials in the Treasury have deliberately developed a model to show that all options other than staying in the customs union were bad and that officials intended to use this to influence policy”.

...But fellow Tory MP Antoinette Sandbach said: “I was at the meeting where Mr Grant is alleged to have made these comments. Mr Grant did not say this, or anything to this effect.” 

She added: “This is a clear attempt to malign a member of the public from the floor of the House of Commons, who is unable to respond in kind.”

And a tape emerged of Mr Grant telling Mr Baker and others last year that “the Treasury is determined to stay in a Customs Union.”

“In private Treasury officials say that we know we will stay in the during the transition.

“They hope that when we are in the transition, people will understand the economic costs of leaving are rather high.

He went on: “And there are unpublished papers sitting in the Treasury, that certain people cannot get hold of under FOI requests, showing that the economic costs of leaving the Customs Union are much greater than the economic benefits of doing free trade agreements.”

Mr Grant said: “I never said the Treasury skewed their research to produce the conclusion they wanted.”

Another lunch attendee, pro-EU campaigner Jo Maugham QC, insisted: “I was at that meeting. Charles Grant said no such thing.