EU chief accused Theresa May’s team of being ‘Dad’s Army Idiots’ in Brexit talks
AN arrogant EU chief has accused Theresa May’s team of running around like “Dad’s Army idiots” in Brexit negotiations.
The astonishing attack by Frans Timmermans, the Commission’s deputy president, risks a back-lash from Eurosceptics
He claims Brussels had been dreading a team of “brilliant” negotiators laden with “Harry Potter books of tricks” when talks first began in 2017.
But in a BBC1 Panorama documentary he claims they then realised from the public utterances and “grandstanding” by people like former Brexit Secretary David Davis that the UK “didn’t have a plan”.
Mocking Mrs May’s top team, Mr Timmermans, 58 — who is a key player in Brussels — says: “We thought they are so brilliant.
‘BREXIT CRISIS’
“And then the first time I saw public utterances by David Davis, and I saw him not coming, not negotiating, grandstanding elsewhere, I thought ‘oh my God, they haven’t got a plan.
“That was really shocking frankly because if you don’t have a plan — you know, we see it — time’s running out and you have don’t have a plan. It’s like Lance Corporal Jones you know ‘don’t panic, don’t panic’, running around like idiots.”
The interview is part of a BBC investigation into Britain’s “Brexit Crisis”.
It took place at the end of March when it was clear the UK had missed the March 29 deadline to leave the EU.
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The attack will do little to clear the tension ahead of Boris Johnson’s near certain promotion to PM next week.
In the documentary, Mr Timmermans says he felt Boris was “playing games” with his remarks on Brexit.
The Dutch socialist has previously slated Mr Johnson’s comparison of the EU to Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich.
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