LOBSTER PLOT!
How Philip Hammond and arch Remainer George Osborne conspired at seafood restaurant days before Chancellor threw a spanner in the Brexit works
PHILIP Hammond and George Osborne were last night accused of plotting to thwart Brexit over a lobster lunch. The pair were spotted at a Chelsea restaurant before the Chancellor angered Cabinet colleagues by refusing to release cash to prepare for Brexit. Mr Hammond agreed to the ‘lobster plot’ meeting despite his Treasury predecessor’s vendetta against Theresa May.
Mr osborne, who now edits the London evening Standard, is said to have told friends he would not rest until the Prime Minister was ‘chopped up in bags in my freezer’. Fellow diners said the pair chatted conspiratorially at a corner table at Caraffini over a ‘very long lunch’.
Mr Hammond ordered the £21.90 house special – lobster on a bed of pasta in tomato and garlic sauce.
Tory MP Nadine Dorries questioned his judgment in talking to such a high-profile critic of Brexit and Mrs May. ‘It sounds very fishy,’ she said.
‘You can tell a lot about people by the friends they keep. We know George osborne wants to wreck Brexit – why would the Chancellor want to meet him unless he sees Brexit as the enemy?
‘Perhaps it’s time he did the decent thing and stood aside.’ News of the meeting came as: Mr Hammond was forced to issue a grovelling apology to Brussels after describing the eU as ‘the enemy’.
Mr osborne urged the Tories to
‘confront’ the issue of Mrs May’s leadership;
Jean-Claude Juncker warned Britain would ‘have to pay’ its debts before trade talks started;
Tory sources said ministers were pressing Mr Hammond to release Brexit cash;
The CBI, which wants the UK to stay in the single market, urged ministers to unite behind Mr Hammond’s Brexit vision;
Downing Street was forced to say the PM had ‘full confidence’ in the Chancellor.
Restaurant plotting has a long history in politics – Tony Blair and Gordon Brown are said to have carved up the Labour leadership at Granita in Islington.
Mr Hammond is believed to be a regular at Caraffini, which offers ‘ fine Italian food with modern overtones’ near Sloane Square.
A witness to the rendezvous said: ‘ They were huddled together – they seemed slightly conspiratorial. They were talking animatedly but seriously.
‘And they were in no rush to leave. Time didn’t seem to be an object. It was a very long lunch.’
Neither Mr Osborne nor the Treasury would comment on the content of their discussions last night. A Treasury source said: ‘Of course the Chancellor meets Conservative politicians past and present. You would be surprised if he didn’t.’
A friend of Mr Osborne pointed out that in his time at the Treasury he regularly dined with former chancellors and newspaper editors.
Mr Hammond has endured a turbulent week since clashing with other Cabinet ministers on Tuesday over the need to release cash now to prepare for the possibility that Britain might leave the EU without a trade deal.
The Chancellor infuriated Downing Street by writing an article for The Times on Wednesday in which he suggested it would be irresponsible to start making costly preparations now.
‘Making costly preparations’
Mrs May issued a public rebuke within hours, making it clear that the Treasury would be required to fund planning for all eventualities.
And former chancellor Nigel Lawson called for Mr Hammond to be sacked for an approach to Brexit that comes ‘very close to
sabotage’. Mr Hammond’s close relations with his predecessor stand in contrast to his strained relationship with Mrs May.
One Government insider yesterday said the pair ‘can’t bear’ to be in the same room.
Mrs May had planned to sack her Chancellor after the election but was too weakened to carry out the purge after losing her Commons majority.
Speculation is mounting that Mr Hammond could be axed in an autumn reshuffle if next month’s Budget is a flop. But a spokesman for Mrs May yesterday insisted the pair have a ‘good working relationship’.
Mr Hammond’s decision to maintain cosy relations with Mr Osborne will anger Eurosceptics and raise eyebrows in Cabinet.
The former chancellor, who was sacked by Mrs May last year, is widely suspected of coordinating opposition to Brexit from outside government.
He has used the Evening Standard to undermine Mrs May and her ministers.
Several former Cabinet friends and allies, including party chairman Sir Patrick McLoughlin, have now cut all ties with Mr Osborne in protest.
A friend of Sir Patrick said: ‘He has been sent to Coventry. Patrick, who was close to George, isn’t taking his phone calls any more, and he is not the only one.
‘It is hard to overstate the depth of anger and betrayal within the party over the way George has behaved. His attacks on Theresa are despicable.’ Mr Hammond yesterday rejected claims that he was acting as a brake on Brexit. The Chancellor, who this week said leaving the EU ‘placed a cloud of uncertainty’ over the economy, insisted it was absurd to suggest that he was talking down the economy.
Speaking at a meeting of the IMF in Washington he tried to strengthen his credentials on Brexit by insisting he was now ready to sanction preparations for the possibility that the UK might leave without a deal.
But in a diplomatic blunder, he overdid the tough talk, describing the EU as the enemy.
Within an hour he took to Twitter to apologise for his ‘poor choice of words’, accompanying his message with the hashtag ‘#NoEnemiesHere’.
Sources at Caraffini told the Daily Mail that the lunch took place at the end of September. But Treasury sources insisted it was earlier.