Jacob Rees-Mogg Suggests Crawford Falconer Could Take Over EU Negotiations
18 March 2019, 12:47 | Updated: 18 March 2019, 12:57
Jacob Rees-Mogg has said that the second phase of Brexit negotiations between the UK and EU could be lead by the government's expert on trade negotiation.
The Conservative backbencher said that it would be good for the Prime Minister to announce a new team to handle the second phase of negotiations with the European Union as they move onto a trade agreement.
But when Nick Ferrari asked who he would choose to lead those negotiations, Mr Rees-Mogg suggested the Chief Trade Negotiation Advisor for the Department for International Trade Crawford Falconer.
"Crawford Falconer is much respected as a trade negotiator and this would basically be a trade negotiation as a civil servant, and perhaps to do as we joined to have a minister resident in Brussels rather than hopping back and forth," he said.
Mr Falconer took the position in the Department for International Trade in August 2017, after working as the Deputy Secretary in the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the New Zealand Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the WTO in Geneva.
