Downing St demands 'positive approach' to UK trade after Liam Fox’s ‘fat and lazy’ outburst

The Trade Secretary's department will be represented by a more junior minister at a meeting with business chiefs in Westminster

Dr Liam Fox, Conservative MP for North Somerset (Getty)

Downing Street has tried to repair damage from cabinet minister Liam Fox’s outburst that business leaders are “too lazy and too fat” by stating that UK trade be approached in a “positive manner”.

The rebuke from Number 10 came as Chancellor Philip Hammond prepared to meet top business people in Westminster.

Dr Fox, whose comments infuriated some in the business world, was not due to be at the meeting, with his department instead represented by a more junior minister.

He has been under pressure to apologise for the speech in which he suggested bosses are more interested in playing golf than winning in tough export markets.

A Number 10 spokesperson said: “This Government is clear that there are opportunities ahead.

“We should be approaching that in a positive manner and seizing them.”

The spokesperson added: “The way that the Prime Minister thinks about this is ‘how do we make sure that British businesses are seizing the opportunities that exist and incentivise them to do more?’”

The spokesperson added that Dr Fox was never due to be at the meeting with top business people today, with Greg Hands down to represent the department instead.

Dr Fox found himself in the firing line after his explosive comments to the Thatcherite Conservative Way Forward group, last Thursday, were reported by The Times.

At a drinks reception, the International Trade Secretary, a former GP, said: “This country is not the free-trading nation that it once was. We have become too lazy and too fat on our successes in previous generations.

“What is the point of us reshaping global trade, what is the point of us going out and looking for new markets for the United Kingdom, if we don't have the exporters to fill those markets?”

Demanding a culture change, Dr Fox added: “People have got to stop thinking about exporting as an opportunity and start thinking about it as a duty – companies who could be contributing to our national prosperity but choose not to, because it might be too difficult or too time-consuming, or because they can’t play golf on a Friday afternoon.”