Philip Hammond says the PM COULD sack Boris Johnson and hints the Foreign Secretary’s antics are harming EU talks
The Chancellor said that no minister is 'unsackable' as he refused to back Boris Johnson
PHILIP HAMMOND today hinted that Boris Johnson could be SACKED after he again defied the Prime Minister by laying out his own agenda for Brexit.
The Chancellor refused to offer his backing for the Foreign Secretary - and warned that Brexit will fall apart if the Cabinet doesn’t unite behind Theresa May.
Mr Hammond told ITV’s Good Morning Britain that Boris’ intervention did not contradict the Government’s official position, but added that no minister is too important to face the axe.
He said: “We all serve at the Prime Minister‘s pleasure and we all owe her our loyalty.
“I’ve always worked on the principle that it’s probably best to assume that nobody is unsackable, everybody has to pull together in the Cabinet.”
The Chancellor suggested that Mr Johnson’s disloyalty was making it harder for Brexit Secretary David Davis to strike a good deal with EU officials.
He told Sky News: “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.”
The PM’s closest ally Damian Green claimed he was unworried by Boris’ repeated interventions - but added that Mrs May still had the right to fire the Foreign Secretary.
Speaking to a fringe meeting at the party conference, the First Secretary told activists: “Boris is doing what Boris has always done - adding to the gaiety of nations.
“I think this whole thing about whether he should be sacked is not a sensible way to do try and run a government. Politicians will have strong views and want to express them.
“Boris has huge qualities. Boris is a good person to have in government. He brings many talents in assets.”
But Mr Green added: "Every minister holds their position at the behest of the Prime Minister. It’s for the PM to decide what any of us do.”
Mr Hammond again denied plotting with Boris to unseat Mrs May in the immediate aftermath of the Tories’ election disaster, rejecting claims the pair exchanged texts to plan a joint bid for the leadership.
He told GMB: “It’s not true - I had lots of texts and telephone conversations with lots of senior colleagues that night.”
And the Chancellor also expressed support for the Prime Minister - but refused to say that he wants her to lead the Tories into the next election.
Mr Hammond praised the PM’s “cool head” and said that “she is the person” to take Britain through the Brexit talks which will finish in 2019.
But asked if she should contest the next election in 2022, he said only: “She’s indicated that she intends to fight the next election as leader of the Conservative party and if she does so she will have my support.”
Mr Hammond will today set out a free-market economic agenda at the Tory party conference in Manchester to compete with Jeremy Corbyn’s radical socialism.
But the annual gathering has been overshadowed by Boris’ latest explosive intervention after he used an interview with The Sun to set out for red lines on Brexit which he believes the PM must not cross.
Pro-EU backbencher Nicky Morgan called on Mrs May to sack the Foreign Secretary if he does not fall in line with the Government position.
She told the BBC’s Westminster Hour last night: “If he can't, sort of, keep schtum about his own views, if he can't give up the oxygen of publicity, if he can't stop setting down arbitrary red lines, then yes, he has to go.”
