May reads riot act to Cabinet as MPS round on plotters

THERESA MAY yesterday accused Cabinet ministers of failing to take their responsibilities “seriously” following days of infighting and ordered them to show “strength and unity”.

The Prime Minister read the riot act to ministers who leaked details of Cabinet discussions, telling them the Government would be able to work better if decisions were made “in private”. One MP told The Daily Telegraph that the likes of Philip Hammond, Boris Johnson and David Davis, who have all been accused of plotting against each other, were “yesterday’s men” and had ruled themselves out of succeeding Mrs May with their damaging antics.

A Downing Street spokesman said Mrs May began yesterday’s weekly Cabinet meeting by addressing the collapse in discipline, telling ministers: “There is a need to show strength and unity as a country and that starts around the Cabinet table.”

The message appeared to have got through as the Foreign Secretary and the Chancellor sat next to each other at an official Cabinet group photograph yesterday.

Cabinet sources said the reason ministers were looking so cheery in the formal picture was because of a joke told by the photographer. Asking MPS to “smooth down” their trousers, the photographer then shouted: “You’re showing a bit of ankle Boris,” diffusing what one source described as “an otherwise awkward moment”.

Charles Walker, the vice-chairman of the 1922 Committee, said: “If you are a Conservative ... you stop chattering away and you stop colleagues chattering away on your behalf and promoting your interests and get on with promoting the country’s interests.”

Sir Michael Fallon, the Defence Secretary, added his weight to calls for unity, saying: “We would ... do well to reflect on those military virtues – loyalty, discipline and cohesion – that might better enable us ... to concentrate our fire on a dangerous enemy within reach of Downing Street.”