A former aide to David Davis has launched an attack on his old boss, claiming the Brexit Secretary only works "a three-day week".
James Chapman, who worked at the Department for Exiting the European Union after the referendum last year, has become a ferocious critic of Brexit and has called for the formation of a new centrist party to fight for Britain's future in the bloc.
As Mr Davis gave a series of media interviews on temporary customs arrangements, Mr Chapman fired off numerous tweets claiming his former boss has been "working a three-day week since day one" and has former Ukip leader Nigel Farage on speed dial.
He also criticised Mr Davis over comments about Labour's shadow home secretary Diane Abbott, referring to an encounter where Mr Davis had to apologise for remarks made about Ms Abbott in private text messages after the vote to trigger Article 50.
Asked what he made of Mr Chapman's recent suggestion that the Brexit department is "in chaos", Mr Davis told LBC radio: "James when he came to me was, I mean he was a Remainer, we knew that.
"But he did a good job, he was a good chief of staff, I'm not going to criticise him, I just don't do that, I'm afraid."
Asked if he had Mr Farage on speed dial, Mr Davis replied: "Not on speed dial, I've got his number somewhere, I haven't used it for, Lord knows, since I was last on your programme with him.
"So what? All this stuff, this is the small change of politics."
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