Former chief of staff sticks boot into 'part-time, leering bully' David Davis
3 min read
David Davis’s former chief of staff has launched a scathing attack on the Brexit Secretary, accusing him of only working a three-day week and "leering" over Labour frontbencher Diane Abbott.
James Chapman left his role in the Department for Exiting the European Union before the general election, and is now floating plans for a new centrist party to fight Brexit.
Mr Chapman attacked his former boss in a series of tweets this morning, alleging that he works part-time, was "drunk, bullying and inappropriate" towards Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott, once accidentally called his EU counterpart Michel Barnier while trying to get through to a “far-right friend”, and had former Ukip leader Nigel Farage on speed dial.
In February, Mr Davis apologised after it emerged he had texted a friend saying he had not tried to hug Shadow Home Secretary Ms Abbott in the Commons' Strangers bar because he is “not blind”.
Asked about Mr Chapman’s recent outbursts on ITV’s Good Morning Britain show today, the Brexit Secretary said: "Dear old James did a great job as my chief of staff, but even on the day he arrived he was a Remainer.”
Mr Davis is the latest pro-Leave figure to feel the wrath of Mr Chapman, who is trying to build support for a new pro-EU party called The Democrats.
He has called Brexit a "catastrophe" and suggested Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson should be prosecuted for his claim that the UK sends £350m per week to Brussels, when recent analysis put the figure at £252m.
Mr Chapman is a former political editor of the Daily Mail and was also worked as director of communications for George Osborne when he was Chancellor of the Exchequer.
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