This morning, Philip Hammond has insisted that those running for the Tory leadership explicitly set out how they intend to leave the EU. The Foreign Secretary told Robert Peston that he wanted to know how they would manage the trade-off between single market access and free movement.
Hammond himself appears to favour a version of the Norwegian model; in the single market and accepting free movement.
Now, I think we can take this as meaning that Hammond won’t back Boris Johnson. Hammond accused Boris and other Leavers of making ‘contradictory promises’ in the referendum campaign. Though, it is worth remembering that Boris Johnson and Michael Gove were both explicit that they didn’t want the UK to be in the single market and instead wanted it to negotiate access to it.
Hammond’s intervention is another sign that the Tory leadership contest will, unsurprisingly, be dominated by the question of what kind of Brexit should be attempted. I suspect we will now see the candidates outline the deal they want, and then if elected go to the country seeking a mandate to try and negotiate it.
One other thing worth noting is that if Labour changes leader, it will change the dynamic of the Tory race as any new Labour leader is likely to be more electorally formidable than Jeremy Corbyn.
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