A civil servant privy to Brexit negotiations and who also pleaded anonymity as disclosed that Britain’s Brexit negotiators were denied water during showdown talks in Brussels as the EU sought to gain a competitive advantage over the UK.

According to the Telegraph, he said the unavailability of water during talks may have been evidence of “unsporting tactics to get the upper hand”.

The source also revealed the scale of “paranoia” within the British camp, laying emphasis on fears of phone tapping and a ban on the wearing of smart watches to prevent leaks.

The Telegraph earlier reported that David Davis, Brexit secretary, is carrying his Brexit documents and electronic equipment in a briefcase fitted with a Faraday cage to protect against hacking.

The civil servant wrote, “Yet the most significant bit of feedback to emerge from the slightly combative early meetings is also perhaps the most elemental one. Water. Or to be precise, the lack of it.”

“This was clearly not a perfectly understandable oversight, but a piece of outright treachery and an unsporting tactics to get the upper hand,” he said.

Editor