Liam Fox is an obnoxious, lying coward for saying a no-deal Brexit wouldn't be the government's fault

Even a triple dose of the FBI’s most powerful truth serum wouldn’t work on the trade secretary

Liam Fox seems to be angling for a move from the department for international trade to the ministry of blaming someone else.

I suppose that’s understandable. It would represent a major promotion. Running that department is the most important job in government outside that of prime minister right now.

Fox made his pitch for it in an interview with the BBC while in Asia to, we are told, explore potential trade deals that won’t come close to replacing what we get through the EU membership, which is the best trade deal Britain has ever had or ever will have, fundamentalists like him decry.

In it he insisted that it “wouldn’t be the fault of the UK government” if we end up with a no deal outcome that will amount to this country committing the greatest act of peacetime self-harm in human history. Said government’s own papers show it will lead to, among other things, a credit card tax, food rotting in queues at customs, a sperm shortage, and a horribly frightening time for people who, like me, have long term medical conditions and depend on imported drugs for our survival.

To me, his saying that makes him much like a mafia hitman who, having been told to get “Bones” Bianchi to calm down a bit, doesn’t matter how, decides that the best way to go about the job is to stab him in front of 12 eye witnesses, half the New York police department and NBC’s action news team before telling a judge “it wasn’t my fault your honour”.

Fox and his colleagues have stomped up and down, banged on about their precious little red lines, engaged in grandstanding, calling and losing unnecessary general elections, and generally do ne anything but negotiate in good faith until right up to the death.

Now we’re at the point? It’s not us! It’s all the fault of the other lot. What can you do?

Honesty? Even a triple dose of the FBI’s most powerful truth serum wouldn’t work on Fox.

He simply doesn't have the courage to tell the truth to the British people, and he doesn't have the courage to take responsibility for his own actions, which is the very definition of cowardice.

But I suppose it would have been naive to expect any better from an obnoxious lying little coward and ministerial code breaker with a record as dismal as his is. But you can live in hope. We’re probably going to have to.

Now there may be those who will at this point be saying “steady on, now”, not least given the publication of a new analysis of MPs’ Twitter feeds showing online abuse rocketing.

They might very well argue that by calling out the lamentable Fox in these terms I’m running the risk of fuelling that particular fire.

I beg to differ.

I’m only too happy to condemn the hate speech, threats, witless insults and worse dished out to hard working parliamentarians, and female and minority ethnic parliamentarians in particular, by gutless anonymous rubes who have nothing better to do than give themselves cheap 280-character thrills at someone else’s expense.

But when someone like Fox, remember this is the man who declared securing a deal would be the “easiest thing in human history”, lies so blatantly and baldly attempts to duck responsibility for what his own government has done, I have no doubt he is guilty of trolling the British people.

The sort of behaviour he has indulged in is regrettably on the increase in Western democracies, where politicians have increasingly been taking a leaf out of Donald Trump’s shabby book, and it demeans and undermines confidence in government.

So I’m sorry, saying something like “goodness me your saying, that is a bit rum old chap” just won’t cut it.

With his pathetic attempt to weasel out of taking responsibility for what he, and the government he works for, are doing, Fox is displaying nothing short of contempt for the British people.

He can hardly expect anything other than contempt in response.