Greg Hands’ much-shared ConHome article yesterday on the malicious motives of top EU officials towards Brexit appears to have seriously ruffled some Eurocrat feathers. European Commission boss Martin Selmayr, lovingly referred to by colleagues as “Juncker’s Monster” and “Darth Vader”, tweeted angrily this morning:

This is false. It may be a story that some want to hear, but it is still false. We have never said this. https://t.co/VS046vxZ0S

— Martin Selmayr (@MartinSelmayr) January 9, 2019

Hands had committed the heresy of, er, quoting on-the-record statements from Selmayr and Barnier’s deputy Sabine Weyand in prominent British and German media outlets. As fluent German-speaker Hands himself pointed out in response:

“There are 17 separate sources to my article, all German & UK media, all mainstream publications (Times, Welt, BBC etc), all individually linked to. So what is “false” about it? Most prominently, the interview you yourself gave to the Passauer Neue Presse.”

EU hostility to any serious level of press scrutiny is no surprise. Claiming outright “we have never said this” is straight-up fake news from the EU’s top official…