One of Boris Johnson’s most senior law officers looks set to quit or be fired after he suggested a cabinet minister had misspoken when he claimed the UK was ready to break international law over Brexit.
Lord Keen of Elie QC, the Advocate General for Scotland and a justice minister, faced humiliation as Northern Ireland secretary Brandon Lewis told MPs on Wednesday his colleague had been flat wrong to dispute the government’s stance.
Labour said that Lord Keen’s authority was now “shot” to pieces following Lewis’s remarks, amid intense speculation that he would soon leave his post.
Keen was last week said to be on the edge of resigning over the government’s admission that its new Internal Market Bill “breaks international law in a specific and limited way”.
Meanwhile, the UK faced fresh anger from the EU after Lewis refused to guarantee that the UK would abide by the outcome of any disputes process agreed with Brussels.
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen jibed the PM, quoting Margaret Thatcher’s belief that “Britain does not break treaties”, as the Brexit row reignited once more.
Keen had sparked ridicule on Tuesday when he told peers that he felt that Lewis had “answered the wrong question” when making his now infamous comment about breaking international law.
But government sources told HuffPost that Keen was not speaking for the government and in evidence to the Northern Ireland select committee, Lewis rammed home his message that his words were official policy in line with legal advice of the Attorney General Suella Braverman.
“I’ve spoken to Lord Keen. When he’s looked at the specific question I was asked last week, he has agreed with me that the answer I gave was correct. That answer I gave reflects the government legal advice,” he said.
Lewis had been replying to a question from Tory grandee Sir Bob Neill, who has since threatened a rebel amendment to the legislation that would give MPs the final say on any breach of the EU-UK Withdrawal Agreement on Brexit.
Shadow attorney general Lord Falconer said that Lord Keen’s authority was now “shot”.
Lewis told MPs: “I read out something very specific because I wanted to ensure that what I said, to make sure that I was giving the House a straight answer.”
The cabinet minister also insisted that the government intends to deploy its “break the law” provisions in parallel with using EU arbitration mechanisms, rather than exhausting the Brussels route first.
“Even if we end up in a situation where we need to use the ‘safety net’ we do that at same time [as going down the EU route],” he said.
And he sparked a fresh backlash from the EU when he refused to say whether he would abide by the outcome of the arbitration process agreed with Brussels for any disputes over the Brexit divorce treaty.
Asked directly if the UK would abide by the outcome of such arbitration, Lewis replied: “To get into a hypothetical about what would happen is an unhelpful and dangerous place to be.”
Committee chair Simon Hoare replied that “there are many people in prison” who don’t like “the ruling of the judge” but they accept it nevertheless.
Irish politician Neale Richmond was swift to condemn Lewis’s latest remarks.
Earlier, in her annual State of the Union address to the European Parliament, Von der Leyen said both sides had agreed the Withdrawal Agreeent was the only way to guarantee the Northern Ireland peace process.
She quoted Mrs Thatcher, as saying: “Britain does not break treaties. It would be bad for Britain, bad for relations with the rest of the world and bad for any future treaty on trade.”
The EU chief added: “This was true then and this is true today. Trust is the foundation of any strong partnership.”