Hammond row forces PM to shelve her Brexit speech
THERESA May has postponed plans for a major speech on Brexit amid continued infighting among her Cabinet.
The Prime Minister was yesterday urged to ‘impose her authority’ as the Chancellor stepped up his call to pursue a ‘middle way’ on leaving the EU.
Last night, sources confirmed that a planned speech next month setting out the Government’s vision on Brexit had been postponed – and could be scrapped altogether. The decision will add to concern that the Government risks becoming paralysed by divisions over Brexit.
Philip Hammond was slapped down by Downing Street on Thursday after he infuriated pro-Brexit MPs by claiming that leaving the EU would produce only ‘very modest’ changes.
But the Chancellor brushed aside the reprimand yesterday to speak out again on the issue, saying the Government would not be swayed by either Brexiteers in his own party or Remainers.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Mr Hammond said: ‘ The smaller the changes that happen to our access to markets and the frictions at the borders the better.’ He added: ‘ We have got to stick to the middle way.’
His decision to speak out again infuriated Eurosceptic MPs, and led to fresh concerns about the PM’s inability to impose discipline on her warring Cabinet. Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith suggested it was time for Mr Hammond to ‘ shut up’. He said: ‘ We don’t need cabinet ministers, Chancellor or otherwise, to give their own views and opinions, and nuance the message. It’s very simple, if you’ve got nothing to say that is absolutely on- message, the answer is shut up, don’t say it.’
Former Tory Cabinet member Lord Forsyth urged the PM to ‘get a grip’ on senior ministers. And Tory grandee Bernard Jenkin said MPs wanted her to ‘ impose her authority’ and force Mr Hammond back into line. ‘If there are big ideological divisions between the Prime Minister and the Chancellor, that is usually not very good news for the stability of a government,’ he added.
Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen said: ‘There is no middle way on Brexit – we are either staying or leaving.’
Privately, some Tory MPs are urging Mrs May to sack her Chancellor – a move she has toyed with in the past. Former Cabinet minister Priti Patel said Mr Hammond’s comments were ‘ completely inconsistent’ with the PM’s stated position on Brexit.
She added: ‘The ideas he is setting out are not government policy and not what the British people voted for.’ The Chancellor yesterday insisted he fully backed the PM. He urged MPs not to rock the boat, amid claims dozens have written letters of no confidence to Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the backbench 1922 Committee.
Reports claim up to 40 MPs have now added their names – close to the 48 needed to trigger a leadership contest. Sources dismiss the claims, however.
Mark Pritchard, a Eurosceptic loyalist MP said there was ‘no major revolt’ but later claimed on Twitter there was ‘growing frustration’ at No.10. Downing Street insiders are privately furious with Mr Hammond for reopening Tory tensions on Europe at a critical moment and one source described him as a ‘nightmare’ to deal with.
A senior Eurosceptic said Mrs May had to resolve the Cabinet’s splits on Brexit, adding: ‘ It is essentially a battle between the Chancellor and Boris. No- one knows what the PM thinks, or even if she has a view. It is a really dangerous time.’
Mrs May had been expected to deliver a major speech on Brexit next month setting out her vision for the future relationship with Europe. Sources in Brussels said the ‘concrete is setting’ around the shape of the future trade talks without a clear input from the UK.
HAVE they put something in the water? This paper asks because the nation used to pride itself on its calm common sense. Yet now hysteria reigns all around us.
A Cabinet minister forced to resign, after being accused of brushing his hand fleetingly against a young woman’s knee… students and universities banning speakers with whom they disagree… schools urged not to refer to ‘boys’ or ‘girls’, for fear of offending ‘gender-fluid’ pupils… A London mayor apparently more concerned about transgender public toilets than fighting knife crime… a minister boycotting the BBC Today programme because presenter John Humphrys cracked a joke about the gender pay gap…
Now even the Attorney General feels compelled to intervene in a tawdry tale of deplorably louche behaviour towards scantily clad women at a charity fundraising dinner. Yet not a peep did we hear from the authorities when children were being serially raped in the Rotherham and Rochdale grooming scandals.
Will this country ever rediscover its sense of proportion?