Jean-Claude Juncker has rushed to salvage relations with Downing Street at a dangerous point in the Brexit negotiations by denying claims that the prime minister had begged for help at a recent private dinner, instead insisting she had been in “good shape” and “fighting”.

The European commission president made the comments hours after his chief of staff, Martin Selmayr, felt the need to publicly deny being the source of an account of the meal in Brussels, published in a German newspaper. The report had described May as pleading for her political life at the dinner on 16 October and appearing “anxious”, “tormented”, “despondent and discouraged”.

Juncker, on a visit to Strasbourg University, said the claims and comments attributed to him in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) were untrue. His public denunciation is indicative of a growing fear in Brussels that a narrative is being built in which the EU will be blamed for provoking a “no deal” scenario.

“I am really surprised – if not shocked – about what has been written in the German press,” he said. “And of course repeated by the British press. Nothing is true in all of this. I had an excellent working dinner with Theresa May. She was in good shape, she was not tired, she was fighting as is her duty so everything for me was OK.”

Asked whether May, who is struggling to keep her divided cabinet together, had begged for help in selling a divorce bill of €60bn (£53bn), he responded: “No, that’s not the style of British prime ministers.”

Later, in a speech at Strasbourg University, Juncker again insisted that the prime minister had not appeared tired but was working for a good deal. However, he added of the financial settlement: “We must know what will be the bill of commitments that the Brits are taking.”

Selmayr had tweeted earlier on Monday that he had nothing to do with the contentious report after Nick Timothy, May’s most senior aide until he resigned following the general election, blamed him for the disclosures. “After constructive [European] Council meeting, Selmayr does this. Reminder that some in Brussels want no deal or a punitive one,” Timothy had tweeted.

Selmayr wrote in response: “This is false. I know it does’t fit your cliché, @NickJTimothy. But @JunckerEU & I have no interest in weakening PM”.

He went on: “But it seems some have interest in undermining constructive relations @JunckerEU & PM May. Who? is the real question”, adding:



I deny that 1/we leaked this; 2/Juncker ever said this; 3/we are punitive on Brexit. It's an attempt 2 frame EU side & 2 undermine talks. https://t.co/pGhCxExpHu — Martin Selmayr (@MartinSelmayr) October 23, 2017

The FAZ article says Juncker, who had a debrief with the article 50 taskforce after the dinner, described the meal to his colleagues, suggesting a wide cast of people had access to the information.

In an unusual step, the European commission’s chief spokesperson, Margaritis Schinas, had also insisted that Juncker had not made the observations detailed in the report. He suggested that unnamed people were seeking to undermine the EU’s negotiating position, adding that they should “leave us alone”.

Schinas said: “Some people like to point at us to serve their own political agendas, their own political priorities, or even to undermine our negotiating position. We would appreciate it if these people would leave us alone. We have lots of work and no time for gossip.

“I have to be very clear that President Juncker would never use the words attributed to him and never have said anything like this. We have never been punitive on Brexit. We have said at all levels on many occasions that we were working for a fair deal.”

After last week’s dinner, a joint statement had been released agreeing to accelerate Brexit talks. It described the meal as having taken place in a “constructive and friendly atmosphere”. Juncker promised to give a “postmortem” of the meal to reporters, but no other details emerged during the week.

However, on Sunday FAZ claimed that when May came to Brussels she had “begged for help”. It said she had emphasised to Juncker the risk she had taken in “giving up the hard Brexit course and asking for a transitional period of two years, in which everything is going to be the same”.

May was reported to have recalled “that she had also moved on the delicate issue of finances”. The paper added: “And she let them know that friend and foe at home were breathing down her neck, waiting for her to fall. She said she had no room for manoeuvre, and that the Europeans would have to make it for them.”

The article went on: “The prime minister is drawn from the struggle with her own party. Under her eyes she wears deep rings. She looks like someone who does not sleep through the night.”

The newspaper claimed that, despite denials from Downing Street, the meal had been arranged at the last minute.

It was claimed that the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, also told May in a phone call before the European council summit on Thursday and Friday that Berlin was not willing to solve Britain’s problems.

At the summit, EU leaders ruled that insufficient progress had been made in the negotiations for Brussels to open talks on a future trading relationship with Britain. There were, however, warm words for May from Merkel and the president of the European council, Donald Tusk.

A No 10 spokesman denied the meal had been arranged in haste, but refused to be drawn on any other aspect of the article, including suggestions that she had begged for help.

A report in the Times claimed that the leaks had left Merkel “furious”, fearing they could lead to the collapse of the talks and May being toppled in the middle of negotiations.



Also attending the meal with Juncker and May were the Brexit secretary, David Davis, the prime minister’s chief Brexit adviser, Olly Robbins, and the EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier.

Earlier this year, Selmayr was accused of leaking to FAZ details of a private dinner in April between May and Juncker at Downing Street, which the commission president was said to have left “10 times more sceptical” than when he arrived.