Philip hammond

In February, Matthew Parris wrote that Brexiteers seemed very anxious, despite having won. He thought this was because they were ‘secretly, usually unconsciously, terrified that they’ve done the wrong thing’. The following week, I suggested that our undoubted anxiety was more likely attributable to fear that ‘having come so far, we might be cheated of what we thought we had achieved’. Exactly a year after the referendum, this fear of being cheated is even stronger. Last week, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, came within an ace of saying in public that Britain must not leave the customs union, thereby undermining the negotiating position of the government in which

The biggest factor keeping Theresa May in office is the absence of an alternative Conservative leader with broad enough backing in the party to be crowned her successor, without causing a messy contest that could destabilise the party and put it out of power.  That is why some Tories are grimly resigned to Mrs May limping on until 2019 or so, when they hope Brexit talks may have come to something resembling a conclusion.  But there is an alternative scenario emerging. Philip Hammond is increasingly seen by some colleagues as the man to replace Mrs May in a relatively smooth and bloodless transition later this year.  The Chancellor’s name has

As double acts go, it is probably not up there with Eric and Ernie, John and Paul, or even Liam and Noel. Even so, Mark and Phil, the Governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney and the Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond, certainly looked today as if they were working in tandem to try and steer the country towards a gentler version of Brexit than some of the harder men of that movement would prefer. Anyone listening to their speeches in the City this morning, postponed from last week in the wake of the Grenfell Tower tragedy, will have seen immediately what they were up to. Carney was at pains

Philip Hammond – No deal would be ‘a very, very bad outcome’ One day before Brexit negotiations get underway, Philip Hammond took to the Andrew Marr Show and announced that if the UK achieved no deal with the EU it would be a ‘very very bad outcome’. This appears to be somewhat at odds with Theresa May’s repeated assertion that ‘no deal is better than a bad deal’… Marr: Do you think no deal is better than a bad deal? Hammond: Let me be clear that no deal would be a very, very bad outcome for Britain. But there is a possible worse outcome, and that is a deal that

The Brexit talks start on Monday. Theresa May hoped that they would be beginning with the UK government’s hand strengthened by her enhanced majority. But, as I say in The Sun this morning, the opposite has happened. The indecisive election result means that there is again uncertainty about the government’s Brexit position. There is lots of talk about what Philip Hammond wants, and how he might seek to ‘soften’ Brexit. Leave supporting ministers are certainly anxious about what he’s up to. One fumes that if Hammond succeeds in watering down Brexit then he’ll cause ‘a schism in the Tory party’ and multiple Cabinet ministers will resign. Now, I think the

Had last week’s expected landslide actually occurred Philip Hammond would by now be working on his memoirs. Instead, he is still in his job and demonstrating why, according to rumours, Theresa May might have liked to have removed him from the Treasury. He has reportedly demanded that May’s policy on Brexit be watered down so that Britain remains in the customs union but not the single market. Staying in the Customs Union would be the quickest way to keep the DUP happy as it would make certain that the border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic remains open. But in all other respects it is the wrong way round.

Never has the Conservative party been more confident about winning a general election. Theresa May’s popularity ratings have broken all records; her aim in this campaign is not just to defeat the Labour party but to destroy it. The Tory MPs who talk about ten years in power are the more cautious ones; some talk about staying in government until the 2040s. The party’s name is seldom mentioned in this campaign. We instead hear only about ‘Theresa May’s team’, and voters seem to approve. As to what the Conservatives stand for, they’d rather not say. At times it seems they’re not even quite sure. The Tory messages revolve around Jeremy

It would be easy to dismiss Jeremy Corbyn’s launch of the Labour party’s election campaign this week on the grounds that hardly anyone believes he has the slightest chance of becoming prime minister. But given that David Cameron was given a 0.5 per cent chance of winning a majority, and Donald Trump a 1 per cent chance of the presidency, it would be foolish not to take the main opposition party seriously. At the very least, Corbyn’s ideas need to be examined in order to understand why Labour finds itself in the position it does, and why no party leader to the left of Tony Blair has won a general election

Watching Education Secretary Justine Greening discuss grammar schools this week, I felt exasperated and in desperate need of a cognac. And it wasn’t because I’m opposed to grammar schools. No, there was something else bothering me: the cold air as Greening stared into the camera. It was the sort of look that could kill you slowly over time, especially when paired with such mechanical, uninspiring words. It left me as cold as Paul Nuttall’s head. And it was then I realised something: this is all Theresa May’s fault. She might have worried about the Tories being seen as the ‘nasty party’. She need not have done. Instead, she’s in danger of turning them

Happy Article 50 day. The day is finally upon us. The Prime Minister has signed the letter which will trigger Article 50 and begin Britain’s exit from the EU. After PMQs, Theresa May will make a statement to MPs while Tim Barrow, the UK’s Brussels diplomat, will hand deliver the letter to Donald Tusk. Once May has formally triggered Article 50, the EU 27 are expected to release a statement in response — promising to approach the Brexit negotiations ‘constructively’. But before Brexiteers pop open the champagne, Philip Hammond has appeared on the Today programme to give an interview that will bring many back down to earth. The Chancellor — who is regarded by

Theresa May has once again ruled out a snap general election but that doesn’t mean the temptation to hold one will go away. Today’s ICM poll shows why: the Tories, on 45 per cent, have a 19-point lead over Labour. This pushes the Government’s poll lead up by three points following a fortnight dominated by Philip Hammond’s Budget debacle, his subsequent u-turn over hiking national insurance rates and Theresa May coming under pressure from the SNP. With Jeremy Corbyn in charge of the Labour party, the usual rules that a government would be punished for a bungled budget need not apply. In fact even after a raft of dismal headlines for Philip Hammond,

After Philip Hammond delivered his Budget last week, he went to speak to a meeting of Conservative backbench MPs. Several were deeply alarmed about his tearing up of their manifesto pledge not to raise National Insurance. One asked him how sure he was about all this. Would they find themselves going out to defend this tax rise to their constituents, only to find him abandoning the policy later? No, the Chancellor replied, he would not change his mind. This tax rise was the centrepiece of his Budget, and it could not be scrapped. He was not for turning. For a Chancellor to abandon his main Budget policy within a week is nothing

This time last week, Philip Hammond stood in the Chamber and made a joke about how the last Chancellor to proclaim they would deliver the last Spring Budget had been sacked 10 weeks later. Little did he then know that just seven days later he would have to face down angry MPs questioning his future — as he appeared in the House to explain the government’s NICs U-turn. Flanked by Theresa May and David Gauke, Hammond was met with heckles as he said the government had come to the conclusion that while the national insurance class 4 rise is compatible with the tax lock legislation, it ‘does not meet a wider understanding of the spirit of that commitment’.