UK ‘chronically broke’ ex-minister and Brexiteer tells corporate travel leaders

The travel industry is subject to “very inconvenient forces pressing on all of us” former Tory minister Steve Baker told the Corporate Travel Summit in London last week.

Baker cited not only the war on Iran but also the rise of the populist right and the fact that Britain is “chronically broke”.

He claimed the reason for the war was “Israel’s view that if Iran had a nuclear weapon it would use it against Israel, and the world can’t allow that”.

Baker noted: “Trump has said the war won’t last long.” But he suggested: “We should take Trump seriously but not literally. He is manipulating [the media] for his own ends. When he doesn’t do what he says, it creates a negotiating position.

“It’s brute power politics – a ‘madman’ strategy to unsettle his opponents, but it’s very unhelpful for business.”

Baker added: “Trump is a big player, and there are three characteristics of a big player – enormous power to move markets, little restraint in how to act, and little concern for profit and loss.”

He warned: “Don’t be surprised if it continues. Just expect chaos.”

The former Tory MP and minister for Exiting the EU, now a business advisor with The Provocation People consultancy, described the UK as “chronically broke” and warned: “The state will substantially default on welfare in our lifetimes” 

He told corporate travel leaders: “You are a particularly vulnerable group.”

Baker also suggested: “There is a major realignment of politics in progress and don’t be surprised if it continues. Unless the next government is some kind of rainbow coalition, it will be a right-wing government. Whatever the Labour government does will be unwound by Farage or Badenoch.”

Yet he added: “If I thought Farage was the answer to our problems, I would have defected to Reform.”

A prominent advocate of Brexit, Baker confirmed he has not changed his mind on quitting the EU, describing the bloc as “anti-democratic and protectionist” and telling the summit: “The EU is running out of road.”

Rather than seek to improve relations with the EU post-Brexit, Baker advocated the UK join a Pacific Rim trade deal as an alternative, saying: “Look where the world’s people are. They aren’t in Europe."

However, Anna Leach, chief economist of the Institute of Directors said: “The hit to the UK economy from exiting the EU was 5% of GDP – a very significant number.”