Iain Duncan Smith urges PM to ditch Brexit chief Olly Robbins for Kiwi trade expert
Theresa May has been advised by the former Tory leader that she should back trade chief Crawford Falconer and return to Brussels to renegotiate the backstop
THERESA May was yesterday urged to replace Brexit chief Olly Robbins with a Kiwi trade expert, by Eurosceptic ringleader Iain Duncan Smith.
The ex-Tory party leader said Crawford Falconer, currently chief trade negotiation adviser at the Department for International Trade, should replace the mandarin hated by Brexiteers and lead a “political” team that heads back to Brussels to renegotiate the backstop.
He said: “As you would if you were in business or any sort of project you are doing, you always get the expert and they do the negotiations.
“What we now need is absolutely, 100 per cent, daily political leadership under the Prime Minister, reporting back.”
Crawford Falconer was hire by DiT in 2017 to negotiate post-Brexit trade deals. He was tasked with building up expertise in the area after Whitehall admitted to limited skills given the EU had always had direct responsibility for thrashing out trade agreements with the rest of the world.
Olly Robbins has been the target for Brexiteer fury over Theresa May’s “soft” Brexit deal. Downing Street yesterday “emphatically denied” claims Mr Robbins had cast doubts on the PM’s ability to renegotiate the Irish backstop.
A source claimed Mr Robbins had texted Chancellor Philip Hammond during a Cabinet conference call to raise concerns about the prospect of reopening the EU withdrawal agreement.
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