Lord David Frost will try to make the most of post-Brexit trading opportunities when he becomes a full cabinet member next month, Downing Street said.
Boris Johnson has drafted Lord David Frost to manage the UK’s new relationship with the EU. There has been criticism of the move because he is unelected and the EU was described as being “governed by unelected bureaucrats” by its opponents.
Lord David Frost will try to make the most of post-Brexit trading opportunities when he becomes a full cabinet member next month, Downing Street said. Frost will also replace Michael Gove as co-chair of a committee on implementing the Brexit withdrawal deal. The Deputy Prime Minister will keep his seat at the cabinet table though.
However, the announcement has drawn attention from the opposition benches, with Labour’s shadow international trade secretary Emily Thornberry tweeting: “So we’ve finally got one minister taking a grip of the problems with our post-Brexit trading relationships with Europe. Someone who has never been elected by anyone in this country, and won’t be accountable in the House of Commons to any of us who have.”
The decision to give Lord David Frost such an important role is not all that surprising though as he was the chief negotiator during Brexit negotiations. He has sparred with Michel Barnier and other significant officials within the European Commission and therefore having somebody with an established relationship and firm stance with the EU could prove to be extremely useful. The fact that he drew up the Brexit trade deal with his European counterparts arguably makes him the ideal candidate for the job seeing as no other British diplomat know the inner working of the agreement better than he does.