MP for Worcester Robin Walker’s boss at the Department for Exiting the EU (DExEU) escaped being held in contempt of Parliament, but did get a telling off in the House of Commons.

Speaker John Bercow reprimanded the Secretary of State for Exiting the EU, David Davis, for being less than clear about whether impact assessments about Brexit had been written by DExEU.

While the Commons Brexit select committee had voted to say Mr Davis was not in contempt of Parliament, Labour MP Chuka Umunna asked the Speaker to rule on the issue.

He said: “Ministers could, with advantage, have been considerably clearer in their statements, particularly challenging lines of questioning in select committees, which were based upon a genuine misconception.

“However, from the evidence which I have seen to date I have concluded that the test that I am bound to apply, that there is an arguable case that there has in this matter been a contempt of the house, has not been met in this case.”

As Parliamentary Under-Secretary at DExEU, Mr Walker is Mr Davis’s third in command.