Jacob Rees-Mogg asks minister if civil servants are trying to sabotage Brexit

In an extraordinary exchange in the Commons on Thursday, Rees-Mogg asked Baker to confirm whether he had been told Treasury staff had deliberately skewed analyses to show all scenerios apart from remaining in the Customs Union would be bad for the UK economy. 

“Will he confirm that he heard from Charles Grant, from the Centre For European Reform, that officials in the Treasury had 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?” the hardline Brexiteer asked.

Baker said he was “sorry to say” Rees-Mogg’s account was “essentially correct”.

“At the time I considered it implausible, because my direct experience is that civil servants are extraordinarily careful to uphold the impartiality of the Civil Service,” he added. 

“I think we must proceed with great caution in this matter, but I have heard him raise this issue. I think that we need to be very careful not to take this forward in in an inappropriate way.

“But he has reminded me of something which I heard.”

Following protests from the opposition benches, the minister quickly moved to say he had not suggested the accusation itself was correct.

“I did not say it was correct, I said the account that was put to me is correct,” he said.