Chris Grayling today resisted calls to resign over the ferry fiasco saying: “I will carry on serving the Prime Minister as long as she wants me to.”
Arriving at No 10 for Cabinet, the Transport Secretary defended the £33 million payout to Eurotunnel as being the result of a “sensible” precaution against medicines shortages.
There was confusion, however, when he said the decision had been “taken” by the Department for Health.
Aides to both Mr Grayling and Health Secretary Matt Hancock clarified that it had been a “collective” decision.
The settlement was made after Eurotunnel complained it was unfairly left out of emergency measures to book freighters to carry medical supplies to the UK in the event of Britain crashing out of the EU. Mr Grayling faced calls to resign from Labour MPs.
He said: “The decision was taken by the Department of Health to protect drugs supplies to the UK in a no-deal ... after a discussion and a decision by a Cabinet committee because we had to prepare for all eventualities. This was a sensible part of contingency planning to make sure that we had all resources that we needed, all the medical supplies that we needed for the NHS.
“That is why the Cabinet took the decision that it did.” He added that the decision was taken to protect the interests of the country.
