Hammond to stay as Chancellor? The PM answers best when she says nothing at all

‘We’ve worked together. Many years. Longer than we would care to identify’

The rule of thumb, when listening to Theresa May answer questions: ignore what she says, focus on what she doesn’t. It’s usually more revealing.

A perfect example was her behaviour at a press conference in London yesterday.

At her side was Philip Hammond, the Chancellor.

The current Chancellor, anyway. Rumours abound of rows between Mr Hammond and Mrs May’s aides at 10 Downing Street. Could the Prime Minister confirm, asked a journalist, that Mr Hammond would still be Chancellor after the election? Mrs May replied as follows.

“I think it’s true to say,” she said, “that the Chancellor and I, and every other member of our team, are focused on June 8.”

Bear in mind that, as she said this, Mr Hammond was standing alongside his boss, in full view of several dozen journalists. But, whatever he may have been feeling – indignation, humiliation, a blazing furnace of white-hot resentment – he maintained an expression of cool inscrutability.

By not answering, Mrs May had answered all too clearly, but another journalist asked the question again anyway. Would Mr Hammond still be Chancellor after the election? Here, in full, is Mrs May’s reply. “…”

Yes, this time she didn’t utter a word – instead leaving it to poor old Mr Hammond to jabber about how the two of them “have known each other for many years”, and how it was “all just media tittle-tattle”. One way to dispel the media tittle-tattle, of course, would have been for Mrs May to take either of her two opportunities to say, “Yes, Philip Hammond will still be Chancellor after the election.”

For some reason, however, she did not.

Third time lucky. A journalist asked the question yet again. He, however, phrased it a little differently. Would Mrs May give an endorsement of Mr Hammond?

“Yes, I’m very happy to do so,” replied Mrs May, smiling, possibly because “giving an endorsement” is not quite the same as saying he gets to keep his job. After all, she could simply have been endorsing him as the Conservative candidate for Runnymede & Weybridge, which indeed he is.

“As Philip says,” continued the Prime Minister, “we’ve worked together over the years.”

We’ve worked together. Not “We’ve worked well together”. Just “We’ve worked together”. Imagine your boss were asked, in front of both you and the media, how you’re doing at work, and the best he or she could offer was, “We’ve worked together.” She might as well have said, “His attention to personal cleanliness is adequate” or, “He is not routinely late.”

“Many years,” Mrs May went on. “Longer than we would care to identify.”

Journalists were now openly laughing.

“That was an age-related comment,” said Mrs May. “Nothing else.”

I had to feel for Mr Hammond. Here he was, obediently joining in the endless weary chorus about Mrs May’s “strong leadership” – while knowing that, on June 9, she may well choose to demonstrate that strong leadership, by sacking him.