In and out Brexit

Dominic Raab appointed UK Brexit secretary

Theresa May announces new Brexit secretary hours after David Davis resigns because he disagrees with her new negotiation strategy agreed by the Cabinet on Friday.

By CHARLIE COOPER

Theresa May today appointed Dominic Raab her new Brexit secretary following the resignation of David Davis.

Raab, who was a housing minister, backed Leave at the 2016 EU referendum. He has been MP for Esher and Walton in Surrey, England, since 2010 and is a former solicitor.

His appointment comes within hours of Davis telling Prime Minister May he had decided to resign following the Cabinet’s adoption, on Friday, of a new softer Brexit strategy that would tie the U.K. to EU rules governing trade in goods and see the U.K. continue to collect EU tariffs at its external borders.

May’s decision to appoint a Brexiteer to the role is an olive branch to restive Leave-supporting MPs who could seize on Davis’ resignation as an opportunity to launch a leadership challenge against her.

However, since the referendum, Raab has been a consistent and loyal minister for the government, seen as a safe pair of hands and often put forward for media interviews. In one such interview for Sky News in September 2017, he indirectly accused EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier of being “unprofessional” after the Frenchman said he wanted to “teach” the U.K. the consequences of leaving the European single market — a precedent that Raab will hope does not set the tone for his relations with Brussels.

Raab also clashed briefly with May herself in 2011, when she as home secretary rebuked him for an article in which he complained of discrimination against men and said feminists are “among the most obnoxious bigots.” May went on to warn Raab in the House of Commons about promoting “gender warfare.”