Theresa May should sack ‘roadblock’ Hammond after explosive Brexit row with Boris furious Tories say
Open war broke out in the Cabinet last night as Boris Johnson described the Treasury's Brexit economic doom-mongering as 'mumbo jumbo'
THERESA May today faced calls to sack gloomy Philip Hammond after Boris Johnson accused him of running "the heart of Remain" in an explosive leaked recording.
The pro-EU Chancellor risked infuriating rivals in the Cabinet as he hit back at Boris and told him we need to "engage" with Europe and "compromise" to get a Brexit deal.
The open war in the Cabinet has now spilled out to the rest of the Tory party - with Brexiteer MPs calling for the PM to sack Mr Hammond immediately.
Nadine Dorries told The Sun: "Hammond is a road block to a successful Brexit and he has to go to make life easier for the Prime Minister."
But another Brexit-backing MP said backbenchers would mostly seek to hide their anger about the Chancellor ahead of crunch votes on the EU Withdrawal Bill next week - adding Mr Hammond faces a "reckoning" once the crucial law is out of the way.
The Chancellor stands accused of undermining our EU exit by issuing "Project Fear" warnings and refusing to recognise the benefits of Brexit.
Speaking in Berlin today, Mr Hammond responded to the row which erupted when Boris' comments were published last night.
Asked about the Foreign Secretary's criticism, the Chancellor said: "Over my career both in politics and before, I had plenty of opportunity and experience of negotiating with Europeans, Germans, French people, Italians.
“My experience has been that a collaborative approach is generally more productive than a confrontational approach and certainly my advice to my colleagues is that the way to address the challenges there are undoubtedly are of reaching a good Brexit solution is to engage with our European partners.
"To understand their concerns and their anxieties about the future, to know their red lines and then to work together to try to find mutually beneficial solutions.
"We enter these negotiations in the spirit of seeking mutually beneficial outcomes and recognising that compromise is always necessary to reach a solution in any negotiation.”
But he also warned Brussels not to try and ignore the will of the UK's voters, saying: "The EU must recognise the British people's vote to be outside their political structures, and regain control of their borders."
Last night it emerged that BoJo had launched a scathing attack on Mr Hammond, accusing him of blocking our EU exit and said that his "wet" Treasury is "the heart of Remain".
He can be heard describing the Treasury's Brexit economic doom-mongering as "mumbo jumbo".
He added: "Project Fear is really working on them. They’re terrified of this nonsense.”
He even said Donald Trump could do a better job, in secret recordings of him speaking at a private dinner event, reported by and .
In the sensational recording the Foreign Secretary said:
- Theresa May could cause a meltdown in Brexit negotiations if she turns up the heat on Brussels, saying: "You've got to face the fact there may now be a meltdown. OK? I don't want anybody to panic during the meltdown. No bloody panic. It's going to be all right in the end."
- He might quit the Cabinet if May failed to deliver a hard Brexit, saying: "I will be prepared to compromise over time, but I will not compromise over the destination."
- Boris described the decision to stop campaigning after the Leave vote as an "absolutely fatal mistake".
- And he played down the importance of the Northern Ireland border, saying it was "beyond belief" to let fears of violence have such a huge impact on talks.
He was speaking at the Institute of Directors in London, at an event hosted by the Conservative Way Forward think-tank.
Today the conflict in the Cabinet extended to Tories in Parliament - with Brexiteers backing Boris while Mr Hammond's allies stood up for the Treasury.
How gloomy Philip Hammond has enraged Brexiteers for two years
PHILIP Hammond has become a hate figure for leading Brexiteers over his gloomy approach to our EU departure.
Senior Tories are keen for Theresa May to sack the Chancellor and replace him with someone more upbeat about Brexit - such as Michael Gove or Jeremy Hunt.
Mr Hammond, a leading Remain campaigner in the 2016 referendum, is accused of never reconciling himself to the vote to Leave.
After narrowly holding on to his job following last year's snap election, he has repeatedly emphasised the dangers of leaving the EU.
Speaking to a Commons committee last October, he suggested flights between Britain and Europe could be grounded if we left without a proper deal.
And he refused to allocate cash to prepare for a no-deal scenario - only to backtrack a few weeks later.
Earlier this year, Mr Hammond again sparked a huge row when he suggested the changes to the UK-EU relationship after Brexit would be "very modest".
Ex-Chancellor Nigel Lawson has led calls for him to be sacked, saying: "What he is doing is very close to sabotage."
And Jacob Rees-Mogg, head of the powerful European Research Group, heavily hinted he wanted to see the PM replace Mr Hammond.
This week Mr Gove, the Environment Secretary, gave a speech on capitalism which was seen as a bid to take over at Number 11.
Peter Bone said he "punched the air with joy" when he heard Mr Johnson's blast at Mr Hammond, adding: "Boris was saying what people think.
"It was a swipe at the Treasury, which is pretty much the heart of Remain - but there's a lot of heart of Remain in 10 Downing Street."
Andrew Bridgen added: "Given the numerous versions of Project Fear that have emanated from the Treasury over the past three years, it's difficult to disagree with Boris' assessment."
And Nadine Dorries tweeted: "Boris is right, @hmtreasury is the heart of remain - it’s Philip Hammond working against the PM channeling the demands of a handful of backbenchers."
But fuming Remainers hit out at Boris - and even accused him of endangering national security with his unguarded remarks.
Pro-EU backbencher Sarah Wollaston said on Twitter: "Boris ‘leak’ a bit like him using the Tory WhatsApp group as a kind of deniable press briefing. Dressing up publicly broadcast insults under the cover of a ‘private’ discussions won’t wash.
"Wonder too what our US allies think of the confidentiality of their own discussions with Boris about the situation in North Korea if that’s going to be passed on for after dinner entertainment?"
PM offers compromise to Brexit rebels ahead of crunch votes
THERESA May has tried to calm down furious tensions about Brexit in her party - as her cabinet went into open warfare today.
The Government has tabled several amendments to next week's EU Withdrawal Bill in attempts to get her rebel backbenchers like Anna Soubry and Dominic Grieve back onside.
The legislation will come back to the Commons for 15 votes next Tuesday and Wednesday, with insiders fearing that some could be lost.
The Prime Minister will address all of her MPs at a crunch meeting on Monday night to try and ease any last minute fears and get her MPs to get in line.
Last night ministers proposed a 28-day "breathing space" in the case that Parliament throws out her Brexit deal later this year - when they would return to consider their options and would give a statement to Parliament.
MPs want Mrs May to promise a "meaningful" vote - with the possibility that they could urge her to return to Brussels to get a better deal, or some saying we could stay in the EU totally.
The compromise amendments also promise tweaks on the role of EU agencies, Northern Ireland and family re-union.
But no changes have put forward to the most controversial one on the customs union - which could keep Britain tied to EU rules even years after we've technically left the bloc.
Rebels said they were still hopeful that fresh concessions could come next week.
And Nicky Morgan, chair of the Commons' Treasury select committee, defended Mr Hammond's officials.
She told The Sun: "The Treasury are thinking about the economic and job security of households and voters across the country, and all the difficulties faced by everyone over the last eight years to get our economy back on track."
Tonight Treasury sources lashed out at the Brexiteers, claiming they're only speaking out "because they know they've lost the battle". One official told The Sun: "They're firing pistols back over their shoulders."
Number 10 today insisted that Boris' job is safe - but hit back at his criticism of Mrs May's negotiating stance.
The PM's spokesman said: "The Prime Minister's approach has delivered significant achievements so far.
"Good deal for taxpayers, fair deal for citizens' rights, implementation period and yesterday you saw another important government publication. She's delivering on what the people voted for and her approach has delivered success."
The EU's Brexit envoy Mr Barnier refused to comment on Mr Johnson's speech, but said: "I listened attentively to what he said, it's always very stimulating."
During his secret speech on Wednesday night, Boris assured his audience that Brexit “will happen and I think it will be irreversible”.
But he warned a soft Brexit deal could mean the UK is still shackled to EU trading policy, regulations and tariffs.
The pro-Leave talisman vowed to "take the fight to the enemy."
Boris unleashed: what the Foreign Secretary said in a secret recording at a private Tory event
On Brexit:
"It [Brexit] will happen and I think it will be irreversible… The risk is that it will not be the one we want and the risk is that we will end up in a sort of anteroom of the EU, with an orbit around the EU, in a customs union and to a large extent in the single market.
"So not really having full freedom on our trade policy, our tariffs schedules, and not having freedom with our regulatory framework either, in the lunar pull of the EU."
On fears of customs chaos:
"There will be some bumps in the road. But prophecies of doom about disruption of customs are pure millenium bug stuff.
"All the planes crashing from the sky. It's absolute nonsense."
"The fear of short term disruption has become so huge in people's minds that they've turned into a quivering wreck.
"They’re terrified of this nonsense. It’s all mumbo jumbo."
On the EU:
"What they [the ‘establishment’] are trying to do is do a Brexit that does as little change as possible and that keeps us basically in the same orbital pull…
"And that would be the worst of both worlds, because what you do is you lose all that British influence in Brussels."
On Cabinet tensions, Hammond and the Treasury
"The fight at the moment, I won’t hide it from you, the inner struggle, is very, very difficult."
"The Treasury, which is basically the heart of Remain, has seized the risk — what they don’t want is friction at the borders. They don’t want any disruption. So they’re sacrificing all the medium and long-term gains amid fear of short-term disruption. Do you see what I’m saying?
"And that fear of short term disruption has become so huge in people’s minds that they’re turning them all wet.
"Project Fear is really working on them."
On Donald Trump:
"I am increasingly admiring of Donald Trump.
"I have become more and more convinced that there is a method in his madness.
"Imagine Trump doing Brexit. He'd go in bloody hard...
"There would be all sorts of breakdowns, all sorts of chaos.
"Everyone would think he'd gone mad. But actually you might get somewhere. It's a very, very good thought."
On Northern Ireland:
"It's so small and there are so few firms that actually use that border regularly, it's just beyond belief that we're allowing the tail to wag the dog in this way," he added.
"We're allowing the whole of our agenda to be dictated by this folly."
On North Korea:
The Americans want Britain to “use our nuclear expertise to dismantle Kim Jong Un’s nuclear missile — that’s what [U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo] asked me to do today.”
Ex-Tory leader, Lord Howard, defended Boris, saying he was right to highlight the Treasury's dislike for Brexit.
He told Radio 4's Today programme: "If there are people in the Treasury who are doing that, then they shouldn’t be, and I deplore that.
"He is certainly right to say we shouldn’t panic. I don’t know about a meltdown... but there's always going to be thrills and spills."
And he warned against Tories trying to "nudge" the Prime Minister into staying in a customs union with the EU.
This morning the Foreign Secretary was getting on with constituency business, tweeting a picture of himself giving a cheque to Field End Junior School for a project to promote reading.
Yesterday David Davis tore into May’s Brexit strategy in a morning of drama that saw the Prime Minister come within minutes of her government collapsing.
The pair met for an hour-long showdown in the Prime Minister’s ornate wood-panelled Commons office after a year of simmering tension with her Brexit Secretary.
Stuck with EU? May refuses to give any guarantee that Brexit backstop will end by Dec 2021
By Tom Newton Dunn, Political Editor in Quebec
THERESA May has refused to give any guarantee that the backstop plans she agreed with David Davis will end by the date she agreed.
Her defiant stand risks alarming Brexiteer Tory MPs afresh that Britain will be tied to EU customs rules for years to come.
She was pressed twice on the way to the G7 summit in Canada for a guarantee that the backstop won’t last any longer than a year.
But Mrs May would only say: “I have always been clear that the point about the back stop is it’s time limited, and it may never be used.
“It only comes in if for technical reasons the agreed end state customs arrangement has not been possible to bring into place by 1st of January 2021.
“As we’ve said today, we expect that end state customs arrangement at the latest will be in by December 2021, and we’ll be working to make sure it’s in earlier than that.”
Mrs May also denied that Brexiteer Cabinet ministers Boris Johnson and Liam Fox were livid with her for trying to railroad the backstop decision through without a specifically stated time limit.
Quizzed on if she had tried to deceive them, the PM hit back: “No. We’ve agreed previously the nature and structure of the backstop”.
And Mr Davis took the chance to let rip - raging about the direction in which her EU exit strategy was heading.
After months of keeping quiet at being sidelined by civil servants, Mr Davis called time on “Brexit backsliding”.
Mrs May eventually agreed to put in a cut-off point in her back-up plans for Northern Ireland to prevent him walking out - but it turned out to be a fudge that would tie Britain to Brussels until at least 2021 or beyond.
Senior Government insiders admitted the new “cut-off” date was meaningless and unenforceable - infuriating Brexiteers further.
Boris' comments emerged at a terrible time - just as the Prime Minister flew into Canada to join Donald Trump and other world leaders at the G7 summit.
And to make matters worse, she walked into yet another furious row with the US President as Donald Trump moaned about her school-mistress tone.
But the PM hit back, saying she's just doing what the people of Britain want.
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