Hammond fails to back May for next general election
PHILIP HAMMOND has repeatedly refused to endorse Theresa May as Tory leader in the next general election.
The Chancellor was asked four times if Mrs May should stay on as leader at the next election but declined to give her his support, instead saying that the focus must be on delivering Brexit.
The Prime Minister’s future is expected to dominate the party conference this weekend amid deepening Cabinet splits over Brexit.
It has been claimed that around 30 Conservative MPS are willing to sign a letter challenging her leadership in a bid to pressure her into quitting.
It came as David Davis opened the latest round of Brexit talks by warning Brussels that there can be “no excuses” for standing in the way of progress.
Speaking alongside Michel Barnier, the EU’S chief Brexit negotiator, Mr Davis said that the UK would only pay a Brexit divorce bill in exchange for a “new deep and special partnership” with the EU.
Mr Davis’s chief of staff yesterday suggested the comments were an “early warning shot” to Mr Barnier as the two attempt to break a deadlock
in negotiations. While Labour yesterday opened the door to a second referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU which could see Brexit reversed.
Some of the party’s most senior politicians lined up at Labour’s conference in Brighton to suggest that another referendum could be held on the terms of Britain’s exit from the EU.
Mrs May had hoped to settle the issue of her authority last month by announcing her intention to fight the next general election, telling rivals: “I’m not a quitter”.
She also attempted to cement her position in a speech on Brexit in Florence last week after brokering a shortlived truce between Mr Hammond and Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary.
However during a visit to Scotland yesterday Mr Hammond repeatedly declined to say that Mrs May was the “optimum” person to lead the party in five years time.
He replied: “I am not going to get involved in the discussion about future Conservative party leadership politics. Theresa May has made it very clear that she has a job to do, I am completely behind her in doing that job.”
The Chancellor also failed to deny that he had sent a text to Mr Johnson offering his support for a leadership bid at 4am on the night of the Conservative’s disastrous election result.
He said: “There was an awful lot of communication during the early hours that morning. I don’t recognise some of the material I have seen in the papers.
“What I do know is that the most important conversation I had that night was with Theresa May when she said she had decided to seek to form a government; she asked me to serve in it and I committed to do so.”
It comes as Mrs May is struggling to contain the mounting Cabinet divisions over Brexit. Mr Johnson has made clear that a Brexit transition period must last no longer than two years amid fears that it could risk damaging the Tories at the next general election.
However allies of Mr Hammond told The Daily Telegraph that Mr Johnson and other Eurosceptics were “simpleminded” and warned that Brexit could take much longer. Mr Hammond yesterday insisted that he does not believe that Mr Johnson is “simple-minded on anything”, but suggested that a longer transition period may be necessary.