Ministers at Davos insist there is 'more to UK than Brexit' as they avoid champagne
Cabinet minister Liam Fox: Photo: REUTERS/Toby Melville
Government ministers said they wanted to show there was “more to the UK than Brexit” as they defended their trip to this year’s Davos summit.
Conservative ministers denied they were at the event in the Swiss alps to sip champagne with the world’s elite, amid reports a record seven cabinet members are attending throughout the week.
International trade secretary Liam Fox said he would meet with his global counterparts in the hope of confirming that Britain’s existing trade deals worldwide will continue after Brexit, despite being signed via the EU.
But the Guardian reports that culture secretary Jeremy Wright insisted: “Actually, what we’re trying to get across is there’s more to the UK than Brexit.”
He said he would attend sessions on the future of artificial intelligence at the conference, attended by 2,500 top business, political and NGO leaders.
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“When you talk about artificial intelligence, the fundamentals of why we can do well in artificial intelligence are going to remain strong regardless of the Brexit outcome,” he said.
Asked if he would be drinking champagne at the event, he replied: “I very much doubt it.”
Fox gave a terser response when the same newspaper pressed on whether he was really in Davos to enjoy some fizz while rubbing shoulders with the wealthy: “Does it look like it?”
Figures from the European Union at Davos piled pressure on Westminster to come up with a solution to the ongoing deadlock, which could see Britain abandon its biggest trading partner without a deal on 29 March.
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EU economic affairs commissioner Pierre Moscovici told Reuters the risk of no-deal Brexit had risen in recent weeks.
A German government spokeswoman said the EU would only discuss a possible delay to Brexit if Britain wished to, as momentum grows among British MPs for an extension to Article 50.
The pound hit a 10-week high today on growing hopes of a possible majority in parliament for an amendment that could delay Brexit if a no-deal exit appears the only alternative.
