In referring to the EU as 'the enemy', Philip Hammond has created another reason to sack him

Is Philip Hammond trying to be sacked as Chancellor? First, he messed up his Budget after admitting he didn’t properly think about the politics of hiking National Insurance. Next, he’s refusing to prepare properly for a ‘no deal’ scenario – putting the Prime Minister at a disadvantage when she’s negotiating (the subject of my Telegraph column today). And this afternoon, another blunder: he has unforgivably referred to the European Union as ‘the enemy’ in what seems to be a bungled attempt to assuage Brexiteers. Here are his remarks to Sky News:

‘My message is this: I understand that passions are high and I understand that people have very strong views about this. But we’re all going to the same place, we all have the same agenda… The enemy, the opponents, are out there. They’re on the other side of the negotiating table. Those are the people we have to negotiate with, negotiate hard to get the very best deal for Britain.’