Stephen Barclay struggles with the name of the European Commission president
Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay went peak Brexit during a live TV interview on Tuesday evening, referring to European Commission president by the wrong name.
Barclay has spent the past two days trying to know the people on the other side of the Brexit negotiation, however, he failed to say Jean-Claude Juncker correctly, referring to him as ‘Jean-Paul Juncker’ in an interview during his visit to Brussels and Strasbourg.
Asked by a journalist on ITV News what he had been up to during his trip to the continent, Barclay not only called him ‘Jean-Paul’ but also mispronounced Junker’s surname.
He said: “Well it’s to build on the engagement that the prime minister had last week with Jean-Paul Juncker.”
‘Jean-Paul’ Juncker, Brexit Secretary? Is that an EU de toilette, or just Eurotrash? pic.twitter.com/nUpBaSO2Pi
— PoliticsJOE (@PoliticsJOE_UK) February 13, 2019
Along with Theresa May’s right-hand man, David Lidington, Barclay met with senior MEPs in Strasbourg in the hope to tweak the final deal.
Barclay was appointed to the post in November last year. He was previously a mid-ranking minister at the department of health and former whip, who voted Leave in 2016, before being asked to fill the boots of Dominic Raab.
