Philip Hammond becomes 2nd Cabinet minister to say he would vote to leave EU today

If the Tory leadership had hoped that a few weeks of reconciliation between David Cameron and his backbenchers would lead to a new, serene phase in party management, they couldn’t be more wrong. Things seem to be getting worse on Europe: today two Cabinet ministers have felt emboldened by the Queen’s Speech vote this week to say that on the current terms of Britain’s membership of the EU, they would leave.

James covered Michael Gove’s comments this morning, and this evening Defence Secretary Philip Hammond joined in, telling John Pienaar that Britain needed a better settlement in order to stay in the EU. This is a transcript of the exchange on Pienaar’s Politics:

John Pienaar: As things stand, we’re not going to have a referendum, but as things stand you would say ‘out of here?’

Philip Hammond: Yes because I believe that we have to negotiate a better solution that works better for Britain if we are going to stay in and play a part in the European Union in the future, but let me be absolutely clear I think it is defeatist to sort of say we want to leave the European Union.