DAVID Davis has said he doesn’t need to “be very clever” or “know that much” in order to be Brexit Secretary.

It comes as he backtracked on his description of the Brexit deal on the Irish border being “a statement of intent” and not “legally enforceable”.

In an extraordinary interview yesterday, the Cabinet minister in charge of extricating the UK from the EU said his main function during the negotiations was to “be calm”.

Davis also performed a major U-turn by insisting the deal struck by Theresa May on the Irish border was “more than legally enforceable” – just 24 hours after suggesting it was not. His latest gaffe comes less than a week after he was accused of “blatant lying” and contempt of Parliament over Brexit impact papers.

The Tory frontbencher has come in for criticism over his handling of the Brexit negotiations, but commenting on his role during the process, he told LBC radio: “What’s the requirement of my job? I don’t have to be very clever or know that much. I just have to be calm.”

On Sunday the Brexit Secretary prompted a furious reaction from the Irish government when he claimed the deal struck on the Irish border last week was a “statement of intent” rather than one which was “legally enforceable”. In response Irish government figures called his intervention “bizarre” and insisted it was a “binding agreement”.

Davis said the media had twisted his words and the UK intended to prevent a hard border after leaving the EU whatever the outcome of Brexit talks.

“What I actually said yesterday in terms was we want to protect the peace process, want to protect Ireland from the impact of Brexit for them, and I said this was a statement of intent which was much more than just legally enforceable,” he said.

“Of course it’s legally enforceable under the withdrawal agreement but even if that didn’t happen for some reason, if something went wrong, we would still be seeking to provide a frictionless invisible border with Ireland.”

Asked why he said the soft Irish border deal was a statement of intent, Davis replied: “Because it’s more than legally enforceable. In the event the withdrawal agreement doesn’t happen then we would still be seeking to maintain an invisible border between Northern Ireland and Ireland, that was the point.”

In a brief comment to the media at an event in Dublin yesterday, the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said he was happy with the clarification.

The remaining EU27 countries will decide at a Brussels summit later this week whether trade talks with the UK can begin and the dispute risked setting these back. But despite Davis’s clarification, there may still be some unease among the EU as the Brexit Secretary also said in the interview over the weekend that the UK would not pay its £39 billion exit bill unless it gets a trade deal

European Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas yesterday said the joint report published last week was “not legally binding” but “a deal between gentlemen” which was “fully backed and endorsed” by the UK Government. He noted that May and Juncker had shaken hands on it.

“Formally speaking, the joint report is not legally binding because it is not yet the Article 50 Withdrawal Agreement,” he said. “But we see the joint report ... as a deal between gentlemen and it is the clear understanding that it is fully backed and endorsed by the UK Government.”