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| Hammond raises further doubts about May's future as Tory leader | Hammond raises further doubts about May's future as Tory leader |
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| Philip Hammond, the UK chancellor, has raised further doubts about Theresa May’s future after failing to support her plans to fight the next election as Conservative leader, describing her prospects post-Brexit as “not an issue for today”. | |
| The Sunday Times reported at the weekend that Hammond, Boris Johnson, David Davis and Amber Rudd were involved in feverish plotting to replace May immediately after her snap election gamble in June failed to deliver the promised Tory majority. | The Sunday Times reported at the weekend that Hammond, Boris Johnson, David Davis and Amber Rudd were involved in feverish plotting to replace May immediately after her snap election gamble in June failed to deliver the promised Tory majority. |
| When asked repeatedly whether he believed May should lead the party into the next election, Hammond insisted the issue was separate from the immediate question of leading the UK through the Brexit talks. | |
| Speaking to reporters in Dundee, where he visited a new V&A-sponsored design museum, the chancellor was asked who the “optimum person” was to lead the Tories into the next election. He responded: “Well, I’m not going to get involved in the discussion about future Conservative party leadership politics. | |
| “Theresa May has made it very clear that she has a job to do; I’m completely behind her in doing that job. I think she’s making an excellent job of managing the Brexit negotiations. We’re entering a critical phase now and all of us need to focus our attention on delivering a Brexit that works for Britain.” | “Theresa May has made it very clear that she has a job to do; I’m completely behind her in doing that job. I think she’s making an excellent job of managing the Brexit negotiations. We’re entering a critical phase now and all of us need to focus our attention on delivering a Brexit that works for Britain.” |
| Hammond was asked several times again whether or not he backed May, who told reporters on her tour of Japan she expected to lead the Conservatives into the next election. He said: “I’m not going to get into a conversation about potential future leadership discussions in the Conservative party. I think you will see next week at our party conference that the party is clear and unified behind Theresa May, delivering us a Brexit that works for Britain.” | |
| He repeated: “These are not issues for today. We’re focused entirely on delivering a Brexit that works for Britain.” | He repeated: “These are not issues for today. We’re focused entirely on delivering a Brexit that works for Britain.” |
| Hammond refused to deny a specific allegation in the Sunday Times that he texted Johnson soon after it became clear that May’s snap election gamble in June had failed, offering to back Johnson as leader. | Hammond refused to deny a specific allegation in the Sunday Times that he texted Johnson soon after it became clear that May’s snap election gamble in June had failed, offering to back Johnson as leader. |
| “Look, there was an awful lot of communication going during the early hours of that morning, texting, telephone calling between all sorts of colleagues,” Hammond said. | “Look, there was an awful lot of communication going during the early hours of that morning, texting, telephone calling between all sorts of colleagues,” Hammond said. |
| “I don’t recognise some of the material I have seen in the Sunday papers. What I do know is that the most important conversation I had on that night was with Theresa May and she told that she had decided to seek to form a government; she asked me to serve in it and I committed to do (that) and back her.” | “I don’t recognise some of the material I have seen in the Sunday papers. What I do know is that the most important conversation I had on that night was with Theresa May and she told that she had decided to seek to form a government; she asked me to serve in it and I committed to do (that) and back her.” |
| He said he “was entirely in accord” with May’s proposal for a transition period for leaving the EU of around two years. That transition period would have to end well before the next general election, timed for 2022, for political reasons, he added. | He said he “was entirely in accord” with May’s proposal for a transition period for leaving the EU of around two years. That transition period would have to end well before the next general election, timed for 2022, for political reasons, he added. |
| He contested a warning on Sunday from Paul Johnson, the director of the Institute of Fiscal Studies, that leaving the EU single market “guarantees to make living standards worse” in the UK. Johnson said he was incredulous that both the Tories and Labour wanted to do so. | |
| “What Paul Johnson is right in saying is if we did not negotiate a deal which enabled us to have access to the European market that would be damaging to our economy,” he said. |