David Davis, the UK’s Brexit minister, took a break from cabinet infighting on Monday to make a lightning trip to Brussels, albeit one mainly notable for an awkward photo opportunity.
After his arrival at the EU’s headquarters on Monday morning, the European Commission released pictures of Mr Davis sitting opposite his EU counterpart, Michel Barnier, with their respective teams. The meeting marked the start of the second round of talks over the UK’s departure from the EU.
While the commission negotiators each sat with a stack of briefing papers in front of them, the UK delegation had none, leading to speculation on social media as to whether they had actually brought any. British diplomats said the documents were still in Mr Davis’s bag at the time the photo was taken.
At a brief press conference with Mr Barnier earlier in the morning, the Brexit secretary said that this week’s talks would delve “into the substance of the matter”, and include discussions on Britain’s EU exit bill and citizens rights.
The two sides are planning four days of negotiations, with Mr Davis returning to Brussels on Thursday to take stock of progress and make preparations for the next round of talks.
The UK minister left Brussels at around midday Brussels time, three hours after he arrived at the commission, with technical work to continue this afternoon in his absence.
Mr Davis’s quick return to London came as tensions mount within the government over Brexit, pitting chancellor Philip Hammond against hardline Brexiters.
Mr Davis has been at the centre of the cabinet infighting, with Davis allies sounding out colleagues in Westminster over whether the Brexit secretary should succeed Theresa May as prime minister.
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The upheaval has even sparked concerns in Brussels.
“It’s a mess. Nobody would want to see them like this,” said one European diplomat working on Brexit negotiations.
UK officials denied Mr Davis’ quick return to London was related to the leadership manoeuvring. A London-based official at Mr Davis’ ministry, the Department for Exiting the EU, said it had long been planned that Mr Davis and Mr Barnier would formally open the current round of talks before leaving detailed negotiations to be conducted during the next three days to officials.
“That is how things operate at meetings of the G7 or G20,” said the Dexeu official. “David Davis will be back in Brussels on Thursday to see how the work by officials has progressed.”
A UK government official said nobody should read anything into the fact that Mr Davis was carrying no papers in the formal photograph of his meeting with Mr Barnier.
The Dexeu official noted the UK side has not yet delivered a position paper on the “financial settlement” with the EU, one of the central issues to be debated as part of the “divorce” arrangements.
The explanations did not stop Dominic Cummings, the campaign director for Vote Leave in the Brexit referendum, from slamming Mr Davis’ performance on Twitter.
Mr Cummings described Mr Davis as “the perfect stooge” for UK cabinet secretary Jeremy Heywood, saying the minister was “thick as mince, lazy as a toad, and vain as Narcissus”.
With Mr Davis back in London, the task of overseeing the talks on the ground for Britain falls to Olly Robbins, the permanent secretary at Dexeu, who is also the prime minister’s chief Sherpa at the Brexit talks.
Monday afternoon’s detailed talks kicked off with a meeting between Mr Robbins and his direct counterpart on the Barnier team, EU deputy chief negotiator Sabine Weyand.
On the politically highly-sensitive issue of the Irish border, officials said that the negotiators will start with a scoping exercise on exactly how each side understands the terms of the Good Friday Agreement and the Common Travel Area.
Technical level working groups started work on Monday on other key aspects of the divorce, such as the Brexit bill and citizens’ rights.
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