Davis ‘will retire and leave Brexit transition to Boris’
DAVID DAVIS plans to retire in less than two years and leave Boris Johnson to steer the country through the Brexit transitional period, The Daily Telegraph can disclose. The Brexit Secretary told friends that Michel Barnier, the EU’S chief negotiator, “needs this to work more than I do” because he plans to step aside in June 2019, whereas Mr Barnier will still be in post.
Mr Davis believes Brexit will be his “last big job”, friends told this newspaper. It came as Mr Johnson warned that some EU leaders believe Britain could still remain in the union, putting the chance of an early deal on trade at risk.
Mr Davis told friends he planned to “retire” in 2019 when the UK has left the union, sparking fears that the move will trigger a reshuffle and a potential leadership challenge.
But allies of Mr Davis have called on him to act as interim leader if Theresa May is forced out after Britain leaves, to act as a steady pair of hands while a new leadership candidate is found.
The Brexit Secretary told friends Mr Johnson should deal with the transitional period, which could open the way for the Foreign Secretary to make his own pitch to be Prime Minister.
He also said Mr Johnson, who will address the Tory conference today, was “back inside the tent” and has been “tied to the tent pole”.
Yesterday Mr Johnson told Tory activists that Brussels believes Britain will “bottle it” over Brexit. The Foreign Secretary said some EU leaders believe Britain will lose its nerve and try to cancel Article 50.
PHILIP HAMMOND delivered a clear rebuke to Boris Johnson for “downplaying” the complexities of Brexit as he continued his feud with the Foreign Secretary yesterday.
The Chancellor said “focus” and “unity” would be needed if Britain was to come out of the Brexit negotiations with a good deal. And he warned the Foreign Secretary that no minister was “unsackable”.
Meanwhile, Sir Michael Fallon, the Defence Secretary, espoused the virtues of “discipline and loyalty” in a sideways reference to Mr Johnson on a day when he faced mounting criticism from his Cabinet colleagues.
Mr Hammond, speaking a day before Mr Johnson makes his own conference speech, said Britain will remain “closely linked with the EU” following Brexit, and stressed the need for a “careful and cautious” negotiation.
Mr Johnson used articles in The Daily Telegraph and The Sun last month to set out his Brexit “red lines” and to demand that his Cabinet colleagues start to show more optimism about Brexit.
He believes Britain should be prepared to leave the EU without a deal, and has suggested too many of his colleagues are downplaying the benefits of leaving the union.
Mr Hammond took the opposite approach in his speech, saying: “If we get this right, Britain will have a bright future beyond Brexit. But we must be clear-eyed about the challenges along our way.
“We must not downplay the difficulties nor underestimate the complexities. With focus and determination and unity, we will succeed.” Mr Johnson’s conference speech today will be arguably the most anticipated of the conference. The reception it gets could make or break his ambitions of one day leading his party, and if he is seen as being disloyal it could also increase calls from some of his Cabinet colleagues for Theresa May to sack him.
Mr Hammond did not name Mr Johnson in his speech, but in another barb clearly aimed at him, he said the Government must “pick our way carefully and cautiously across the difficult terrain of EU negotiation, to ensure we arrive in good order on the fertile plains at the other side”, adding that “focus, determination and unity” would be needed to succeed.
In a series of media interviews earlier in the day, Mr Hammond had said that Mr Johnson was “sackable”, after the Prime Minister refused to answer a similar question on Sunday about the Foreign Secretary.
He also suggested Mr Johnson’s disloyalty was making it harder for David Davis, the Brexit Secretary, to negotiate in Brussels.
He said: “The more we can show unity, the stronger our negotiating position with the European Union would be. His hand would be stronger when it is clear that he has a united Cabinet behind him.” Asked about Mr Johnson’s claim that the Brexit transition period should be “two years and not a second more”, he shrugged: “I would describe that as a rhetorical flourish.” Mr Hammond suggested that Mrs May had given Britain “flexibility” over the length of the Brexit transition period by saying it would last “around” two years. Damian Green, the First Secretary of State, said the transition period could last “a few months either side” of two years. The Telegraph understands that several Cabinet ministers believe a period of two and a half years would be acceptable.
Sir Michael Fallon was also scathing when asked about Mr Johnson’s chances of becoming the next Tory leader.
Speaking on The Telegraph’s Chopper’s Brexit Podcast, Sir Michael said his advice to his squabbling colleagues was to “have a look at the military. People admire our military the world over … Why? Because of … those virtues of discipline and loyalty”.
He said a poll that showed 21 per cent of Tory members wanted Mr Johnson as the next leader “doesn’t seem extremely high”.
Speaking on the same programme, Iain Duncan Smith, the former Conservative leader, said Mrs May needed
‘Brexit will be one of the most challenging tasks undertaken by a peacetime government’
to show by the end of the conference that she could “lead a united party, or we will not succeed”.
Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, yesterday warned if Cabinet ministers did not “pull in behind” Mrs May they would be “risking Brexit”.
Asked by the Guardian if he feared Mr Johnson was “looking for the top job,” Mr Hunt said: “All I would say to anyone who might be eyeing a different job is that Jeremy Corbyn is also eyeing a different job.
“And if they don’t swing behind Theresa, who I think is doing a fantastic job in very difficult circumstances, they will just open the door to Jeremy Corbyn and probably the most dangerous Left-wing government this country has ever seen.”
At a conference fringe event, Mr Green refused to rule out paying for single market access after the Brexit transition period – which would cross one of Mr Johnson’s red lines. He said: “I’m not ruling anything in or out that will be in the detail of the negotiation because David Davis has got a difficult job and he is eminently suited to doing it. I’m not going to do anything that makes his job more difficult.”