SCOTLAND’S Brexit minister has reacted angrily to the news that Tory Brexiteers are trying to get Olly Robbins, Prime Minister Theresa May’s senior adviser on the negotiations with the European Union, sacked for being too much in favour of remaining in the customs union.

Michael Russell MSP spoke out against the possible dismissal of the senior civil servant which was reported in the right-wing pro-Brexit Unionist press yesterday. One newspaper even reported a “close ally” of UK Brexit minister David Davis saying the minister had threatened to resign if Robbins stayed, a claim that was roundly dismissed by the Westminster Government though pointedly not by Davis himself by the time we went to press.

Russell did not mince his words: “If the hard line Brexiteers get their way the only people who will be allowed to speak on behalf of the UK in Brussels will be those who want to walk out with no agreement. They will listen to no other argument as their treatment of other civil servants shows.”

Robbins is widely credited as being the official who is the driving force behind the so-called customs partnership which Theresa May is said to be seeking but which Davis and fellow Tory Brexiteers are extremely wary of, with some outrightly opposed to it. The row escalated last night to become a full-blown crisis for Prime Minister May when Dave Penman, the head of the FDA union, said: “Is there a more despicable form of political cowardice than to allow anonymous briefings in your name to effectively call for a civil servant to be sacked?

“Civil servants advise, ministers decide. Politicians of all stripes know this. If David Davis leaves these comments from a ‘close ally’ out there unchallenged, it ultimately suggests that he supports them but isn’t brave enough to say so publicly.”

May undoubtedly authorised the statements issued by the Tory Government Chief Whip Julian Smith who tweeted: “#UKCivilService is helping to deliver Brexit. The quality of support/advice is world class.”.

His view was immediately endorsed by the head of May’s own staff, Gavin Barwell who said: “Attacking ind(ependent) civil servants is deeply unfair”.

Perhaps more tellingly, the UK’s head of the civil service Sir Jeremy Heywood, took to Twitter to thank Barwell, saying “Thanks for your support. The Civil Service will always be true to its values – honesty, integrity, impartiality and objectivity.”

The unusually frank Twitter exchange by normally silent senior officials demonstrates that May has a very serious problem – if Davis did threaten to resign, then she must either sack him or Robbins as it would be impossible to see how both men could be expected to work together in the run-up to Brexit.

It also shows that the row inside the Cabinet over the customs partnership is clearly worsening ahead of a crucial meeting of the Brexit committee of the Cabinet on Wednesday to take forward the UK’s policy on the customs union, and political pundits are speculating that the row over Robbins is part of the jockeying for position ahead of Wednesday.

The Pro-Brexit pressure group Leave Means Leave had told the press: “At each stage, Robbins has presided over a bungled negotiating position on behalf of the UK, giving leverage to the EU and acquiescing to their every whim in a way no business person would do.”

“Mike Russell’s ‘Get Robbins’ campaign indicates the Brexiteers’ aim of firing anyone who realises that the facts indicate the overwhelming need to at least stay in the customs union for as long as possible will create two disastrous situations: it will lead to huge economic and social damage here, but it will also convince the EU27 that there is no possible of a sane, rational negotiation with the UK.

“These people are fantasists and wreckers, high on a dream of an England that never existed, contemptuous of the other European nations and incidentally hell bent on destroying devolution too. They must be stopped, but neither May nor Corbyn seems able or willing to do so. In fact they appear to be aiding and abetting their mad schemes.”