DUP orders May to rein in ‘divisive’ Hammond
MPs propping up Government demand PM issues Chancellor an ultimatum over Brexit
THERESA MAY must tell the Chancellor he faces the sack unless he changes course on Brexit, the MPs propping up her Government warned last night.
Senior DUP parliamentary sources told The Sunday Telegraph they were “deeply concerned about Philip Hammond’s behaviour” following a string of episodes that could suggest he was “trying to frustrate the negotiating process”.
The extraordinary intervention will put significantly more pressure on the Prime Minister amid growing calls from within her own ranks to replace the Chancellor over his apparent reluctance to spend money on preparations for a “no deal” outcome.
Last night Michael Gove, the Brexitsupporting Environment Secretary, was being touted as a possible successor to take the helm at the Treasury and oversee next month’s Budget.
The intervention came as:
A string of Conservative grandees called for Mr Hammond to be sacked, with one prominent former minister telling this newspaper that he “deserves to be kicked not only out of the Cabinet but all the way down Whitehall”. Another senior figure called for an equivalent to Margaret Thatcher’s “1981 moment” when she strengthened her position by sacking or demoting a series of Cabinet ministers;
In an article for The Sunday Telegraph David Jones, a former Brexit minister, called on Mrs May to this week put the EU on notice that if it fails to “very soon” engage in trade discussions, the UK will suspend further negotiations – a position understood to be supported by DUP MPs;
Emmanuel Macron, the French pres- ident, risked causing further antagonism with an apparent claim in a German newspaper interview that the EU had been held back by countries such as Britain that “hate Europe and want to give up on it”;
Insiders revealed that one source of tension between the Prime Minister and her Chancellor was over Mrs May’s conference announcement of a price cap on energy bills – a policy about which Mr Hammond is understood to have raised ideological concerns.
This week the leaders of the 27 remaining EU members will meet for talks following the fifth round of negotiations last week. They are expected to decide that the UK has made some progress and concessions but not enough to open discussions on trade. The commission’s refusal to move on to “substantive” talks is causing growing anger among Conservatives.
The concern of some MPs and ministers boiled over last week when Mr Hammond wrote a newspaper article playing down the idea of spending money on preparations for no deal being reached.
This weekend a senior DUP parliamentary source revealed that the party’s MPs, who support the Government under a “confidence and supply” agreement, had held talks with Tory backbenchers disaffected with Mr Hammond and shared their concerns.
The source said: “We are very concerned about Philip Hammond’s behaviour.
“It is evident to us that he is winding people up and causing unnecessary division within the Conservative Party at a crucial time in the Brexit negotiations, and his behaviour is very
unsettling. He appears to be at least highly sceptical about Brexit and one could conclude from his current position and his behaviour that he is trying to frustrate the negotiating process and to undermine the Prime Minister.
“We think that Mrs May needs to do something to rein her Chancellor in and to make it clear to him that this kind of behaviour has to stop. If this behaviour continues [his] position becomes untenable.”
Separately, a Brexit-supporting Conservative grandee, said: “Hammond is a s--- who deserves to be kicked not only out of the Cabinet but all the way down Whitehall.”
Another prominent former Cabinet minister said: “It will obviously be easier if someone ... wasn’t constantly trying to dilute and water down the Government’s bargaining position.”
A third grandee described his behaviour in the last week as “peculiar” and said that he should be dismissed.
However, another senior figure said that while the Treasury “made some very stupid forecasts” during the referendum campaign, Mr Hammond ap- peared to be acting on “legitimate concerns” about the impact on the City if negotiations go badly.
Meanwhile, Mr Macron risked causing further tensions with Britain when asked how he could gain the support of countries who “don’t want to have anything to do with Europe any more”.
“We ... are allowing primarily those to speak who hate Europe and want to give up on it,” he told Der Spiegel. “The more reticent one is with European ambitions, the less progress one makes,” he added.
Nadine Dorries, a backbencher who along with the former chancellor Lord Lawson last week called for Mr Hammond’s sacking, said other MPs had approached whips with similar concerns.
A Downing Street spokesman said Mrs May had “full confidence” in her Chancellor. Sources close to Mr Hammond insisted that “the thrust of what [he] and Theresa May are saying about Brexit is the same.”
The DUP yesterday ruled out an immediate return of the Stormont powersharing Executive because “significant areas of difference” remained with Sinn Fein.