Steve Baker has ruffled a few feathers after he branded Brexit a “fiasco” and indicated that politicians such as Sir Keir Starmer could be to blame for it.
The self-styled ‘Brexit hardman’ and former deputy chairman of the ERG took to Twitter to bemoan the ‘policymaking elite’, seemingly forgetting that he was Brexit minister from June 2017 and July 2018.
His comments come as a post-Brexit masterplan was unveiled to merge London with Amsterdam in a bid to plug financial trade lost to Brexit.
Earlier this month the governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, said he does not expect the EU to open the doors to UK financial services exports after Brexit.
It also emerged today that thousands of EU workers have left hospitality jobs in the past year, as EU workers abandon the UK.
Fiasco
Feels like a fiasco, right? Well, Steve Baker seems to agree.
He tweeted: “Keir Starmer’s comments about #NetZero remind us that he’s part of the policymaking elite who have decided to make us poorer and colder.
“Politicians need to level with the public about the scale of change needed in our lives so we don’t have another political fiasco like Brexit.”
⚠️Keir Starmer’s comments about #NetZero remind us that he’s part of the policymaking elite who have decided to make us poorer & colder
— Steve Baker MP FRSA (@SteveBakerHW) August 4, 2021
?Politicians need to level with the public about the scale of change needed in our lives so we don’t have another political fiasco like Brexit
Reactions
As you can imagine a lot of people on Twitter were on standby to remind him of his role in Brexit and that he liked being known as the ‘Brexit hardman.’
1.
Political fiasco made flesh/self-styled ‘Brexit hardman’ Steve Baker now thinks Brexit is a ‘political fiasco’.
— James O’Brien (@mrjamesob) August 4, 2021
I’ve tried but I’ve got nothing… https://t.co/c7nsOdLyrh
2.
Steve, I bring terrible news. It’s your Brexit. It’s your ‘fiasco’. You were at the epicentre of the policy-making elite who pushed it through, without scrutiny, in the harshest terms possible.
— Sue Perkins ? (@sueperkins) August 4, 2021
As for poorer and colder, you have consistently voted against welfare increases… https://t.co/poUYeKhRfE
3.
‘Another political fiasco like Brexit’ – says one of its authors https://t.co/Hyt3XnMjhF
— Andrew Adonis (@Andrew_Adonis) August 5, 2021
4.
Dominic Cummings:
— David Schneider (@davidschneider) August 5, 2021
“Anyone who’s sure Brexit is a good idea has got a screw loose”
Steve Baker:
“Brexit is a fiasco”
These guys must be furious at the people who were behind the Leave campaign.
5.
“political fiasco like brexit”?
— ??? (@TVRav) August 5, 2021
Set irony level to 11. https://t.co/GNAbxAWXdw
6.
@SteveBakerHW who unironically calls himself ‘Brexit hard man’ seems to have gone entirely flaccid as the results of the Brexit he campaigned for have come to bite, calling it a ‘political fiasco’. It would be funny if it weren’t so staggeringly sad https://t.co/KH1x0vXePa
— Oliver Pierce (@OliverP73030815) August 5, 2021
7.
The last time I checked you were a member of a small #ERG elite group which dictates #Tory party policy and it’s swing to ultra-extreme capitalism.
— Pete Hudson ???? #FBPE #FBPA #FBPPR?️? (@Two_Penneth) August 4, 2021
8.
Erm, Steve.
— Toni Brodelle #LibDems (@ToniBrodelle) August 4, 2021
I don’t know quite how to break it to you, but… you literally entered politics to bring about Brexit. You pushed every step of the way for the harshest Brexit possible, despite all the evidence pointing to how damaging that would be. (1/3)
9.
Re comment 1, don’t know if you noticed, but Starmer isn’t the Prime Minister.
— PeteMilford (@gullssinceaboy) August 4, 2021
Re comment 2, YOU literally did this to us. YOUR Party and YOUR “European Research Group”. Brexjt is a fiasco, a catastrophe, brought to us by the Tory Party.
10.
Reminder: Steve Baker *was* a Minister at the Department for Exiting the EU.
— Somewhat Mutineerish Person – #ABTV – 48% – #FBPE (@EdwardBedivere) August 4, 2021
He had *his hand on the steering wheel*.
He is the *policymaking elite* that made it a political fiasco & repeatedly sought *to block informing the public*.
11.
You’ve made us infinitely poorer and meaner @SteveBakerHW
— Fionna O’Leary, ??? (@fascinatorfun) August 4, 2021
You and your nutty, cult-y Brexit.
12.
Keir Starmer is part of the policy making elite?
— Bradley Wall ?️? ????? (@BWallArthur) August 4, 2021
Have we been in some weird parallel universe where the tories haven’t been in power for 11 years? ?
13.
Steve Baker reminds us that he’s part of the policymaking elite who decided to make a political fiasco like Brexit a reality
— sue#NHSLove???#FBNHS (@SueSuezep) August 4, 2021
Related: Post-Brexit rules hit UK manufacturing of goods such as cars and fridges