PHILIP Hammond has Theresa May’s full confidence, No 10 insisted today, as the right-wing backlash against the Chancellor continues amid rising speculation of a Cabinet reshuffle.
Some Tory MPs have called Mr Hammond an “Eeyore” on Brexit, taking a gloomy outlook on Britain’s prospects outwith the EU with calls from the backbenches for the Prime Minister to sack him. The latest parliamentary voice to do so was that of Lord Lawson, the former Chancellor who served in the Thatcher Government. Yesterday, he suggested Mr Hammond had been unhelpful to the Brexit process, accusing the current incumbent’s approach to EU withdrawal as “very close to sabotage”.
It has been suggested that the relationship between No 10 and No 11 has become so bad that Mrs May and her Chancellor “can’t bear” to be alone together and now insist on aides being present during meetings.
Speculation was rife before the snap General Election that the PM was going to fire Mr Hammond but the result of the poll weakened her position and the Chancellor stayed in his role.
Talk at Westminster is growing that the current state of affairs cannot continue for much longer as tensions at the top of Government are bleeding into the Brexit talks process.
Next week’s European Council, when EU leaders are expected to confirm that the negotiations are behind schedule and that any talks on a UK/EU trade deal will not start until December at the earliest - but only if progress on the divorce settlement is made.
Rumours of a reshuffle abound with suggestions the PM might use the mid-term reshuffle in November to change her team. However, the Budget is due on November 22; to change Chancellors two weeks before such a major statement would suggest panic.
On Thursday, No 10 insisted Mrs May believed Mr Hammond and their Cabinet colleagues were “working well” on Brexit while this morning her spokeswoman, when asked if the PM had full confidence in the Chancellor, replied: “Yes. They have a very good working relationship and they work very closely together.”
Cabinet colleagues have been seeking to play down talk of a rift at the top of Government but things are said to have spilled over at last week’s Cabinet when it was suggested there had been a “robust” exchange on Brexit. No 10 denied there had been a row but, rather, a brief discussion.
On Wednesday, the Chancellor made clear he was not ready to unlock the Treasury coffers to spend billions of pounds needed to prepare for a “no-deal” scenario and that any spending should be delayed until the last moment. But an hour later Theresa May appeared to slap her Chancellor down when she insisted: “Where money needs to be spent, it will be spent."
She announced an additional £250 million will be spent on contingency planning to add to the £400m Mr Hammond announced in his Autumn Statement of 2016.
The Chancellor is in America for meetings at the World Bank and IMF. He is due to give media interviews today, which will be watched for any sign of growing tensions in Downing Street.
Yesterday in the Commons, the SNP’s Pete Wishart mocked the Tories, saying after their successful conference, they had returned to Westminster full of peace, love, understanding and unity. “Well, the Brexiteers are all united against the Chancellor anyway,” he added.
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