Lord O’Donnell blasts leading Brexiteers as ‘snake oil salesmen’ Leading Brexiteers have been attacked as “snake oil salesmen” by the former head of the civil service as he hit […]

Leading Brexiteers have been attacked as “snake oil salesmen” by the former head of the civil service as he hit back at “crazy” accusations that officials are plotting to sabotage Britain’s departure from the European Union.

The MP Jacob Rees-Mogg has accused civil servants of “fiddling the figures” to show the UK would be poorer outside the bloc while Brexit minister Steve Baker has claimed that gloomy Whitehall economic forecasts were leaked to “undermine our exit”.

The claims – which have provoked protests by the civil servants’ union – were denounced on Sunday by senior former officials.

The i politics newsletter cut through the noise Email address is invalid Email address is invalid Thank you for subscribing! Sorry, there was a problem with your subscription.

Lord O’Donnell, the Cabinet Secretary between 2005 and 2011, said the predictions were made in good faith because honesty and objectivity ran through civil servants “like a stick of rock”.

‘Backlash against evidence’

He said: “We look at the evidence and we go where it is. Of course if you are selling snake oil, you don’t like the idea of experts testing your products.

“And I think that’s what we’ve got, this backlash against evidence and experts is because they know where the experts will go.”

Responding to accusations that civil servants distorted their analysis, Lord O’Donnell told ITV’s Peston On Sunday: “I think that is completely crazy. The truth is civil servants operate by the civil service code. The values are honesty, objectivity, integrity, impartiality.”

His predecessor as Cabinet Secretary, Lord Turnbull, told the Observer: “[The critics] are losing the argument in the sense that they are unable to make their extravagant promises stack up, and so they turn and say: ‘Things would be OK if the civil service weren’t obstructing us’.

“When you don’t succeed, you find someone to blame for your failure.”

German nationalists’ ‘tactics’

He also claimed Brexiteers were using tactics similar to those adopted by German nationalists in the 1930s who perpetuated the myth that their country was “stabbed in the back” after the First World War.

Lord Butler, another former Cabinet Secretary, said he believed the criticism was part of a deliberate “Brexiteer process of intimidation”.

Dave Penman, the general secretary of the First Division Association, has complained that Mr Baker has insulted the “dedicated professionals working in his department and across the civil service”.