Fears Hammond could quit Cabinet
Chancellor ‘excluded from key meetings’ as pressure mounts on PM over ‘hard’ Brexit
THE Treasury last night moved to quash fears that Philip Hammond could be on the brink of quitting as Chancellor over the mounting Cabinet rift over Brexit.
Friends of Mr Hammond claim he has been deliberately excluded from key No10 meetings because of his outspoken criticism of Ministers who back the ‘hard’ Brexit option of the UK leaving the single market.
They fear that, at the age of 60, he will walk out of the Government rather than stifle his opposition.
Last night, a Treasury spokeswoman insisted Mr Hammond would not ‘throw his toys out of the pram’ and was working ‘to bring everyone together’.
The fears come as Theresa May faces a hostile reception at her first European Council in Brussels on Thursday where she will hold informal talks on her Brexit strategy with other EU leaders.
The Prime Minister is also facing increasing pressure from opponents of a ‘hard’ Brexit.
The Mail on Sunday has learnt that Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg are poised to mount a cross-party bid to force an imminent Commons showdown on the Brussels negotiations. The former party leaders will join pro-Remain Tory MPs to table a motion within weeks calling on the Government to publish a Brexit plan, which would have to be approved by the Commons before Mrs May could trigger the Article 50 withdrawal process.
And pro-Remain Tory backbench- ers also intend to launch a series of Commons ambushes designed to stop Mrs May from pulling the UK completely out of the single market, a wrecking move some predict could lead to her Government falling within the year. Anna Soubry, a leading figure in the ‘soft’ Brexit group dubbed the ‘Remain resistance’, warned that if the Prime Minister did not give MPs the chance to vote on the single market Mrs May would be entering ‘dangerous waters’. One plan being hatched by them is to put down amendments to the upcoming Great Repeal Bill enforcing our continued membership of the single market. If the Bill was defeated the Prime Minister would be under intense pressure to call a General Election to increase her majority and reintroduce the measure. The Bill must be passed in order to revoke all EU laws in the UK before Brexit can be completed. Friends of Mr Hammond say he has grown increasingly concerned that talk about a ‘hard’ Brexit is pushing the pound’s value dangerously low. He is also said to be angry about his exclusion from the 8.30am strategy meeting at Downing Street, which his predecessor George Osborne used to attend under David Cameron. Additionally, Mr Hammond is understood to have objected to Mrs May criticising Bank of England Governor Mark Carney during her party conference speech by saying that his low interest rate policy had some ‘bad side effects’ on pensioners, savers and the young.
One of the Chancellor’s allies said: ‘Philip and the PM are fighting over almost everything, and not just over the single market. Things are very tense, and we hope he doesn’t do anything rash.’
The Mail on Sunday revealed last week that pragmatic Hammond was pushing for the ‘soft’ Brexit option of retaining access for British businesses to the tariff-free single market in exchange for accepting limits on our power to control immigration from the EU. He also attacked the Brexit Ministers – David Davis, Liam Fox and Boris Johnson – over their ‘bull in a china shop’ approach to negotiations.
Ms Soubry, who backs Hammond’s approach, predicted trouble ahead for Mrs May, who has a working Commons majority of just 17. A total of 490 out of 650 MPs supported Remain in the referendum, including nearly 60 per cent of Tories.
Ms Soubry said: ‘The Government has got to draw up legislation now which puts our membership of the single market ahead of everything else. MPs will do everything they can, including amending legislation, to retain access to the single market and limit curbs on immigration.’
Mr Clegg said: ‘It’s absurd that Brexiteers who have spent years condemning the lack of accountability of the EU are now seeking to marginalise Parliament on some of the most important decisions in a generation.’
One former senior legal adviser to the Government said: ‘Downing Street’s position on delivering Brexit without a vote is untenable. It is heading for trouble over this.’ Anti-Brexit MPs are privately hope- ful that a group called People’s Challenge will succeed in its High Court bid to stop Mrs May forging ahead – alleging she does not have the right to use executive powers to start the process of leaving the EU.
Downing Street announced yesterday that Mrs May will go on her first trade mission as Premier by leading a delegation to India next month.
Travelling with Trade Secretary Mr Fox, she said it would ‘forge a new global role for the UK, to look beyond our continent and towards the economic and diplomatic opportunities in the wider world.
‘We will send the message that the UK will be the most passionate, most consistent, and most convincing advocate for free trade.’
Last night, a Treasury spokeswoman denied the claims about Mr Hammond, saying that resigning was ‘not his style’.