Chancellor Philip Hammond has challenged the Tory leadership candidates to prove they won’t be ‘Theresa May Mark II’ by dithering over Brexit
- Chancellor Philip Hammond has weighed in to the race to replace Theresa May
- New PM would need to show how they can escape the Brexit ‘holding pattern’
- In an interview with Newsnight he said that neither no deal nor no Brexit was ‘an acceptable outcome’
By Jack Doyle Associate Editor For The Daily Mail
Published: 20:20 EDT, 3 June 2019 | Updated: 20:44 EDT, 3 June 2019
Philip Hammond last night laid down the gauntlet to Tory leadership hopefuls to prove they can avoid becoming ‘Theresa May Mk II’ on Brexit.
The Chancellor said the challenge for all the candidates was to show how they would escape the ‘holding pattern’ Mrs May became stuck in – and urged them to back a negotiated Brexit.
He said MPs should ‘stop pontificating, get off their high horses’ and accept the compromises that a deal with the EU entailed.
‘My challenge to all of the candidates is: Explain to me how you will avoid becoming Theresa May mark II, stuck in a holding pattern,’ he said in an interview with BBC Newsnight.
The Chancellor said the challenge for all the candidates was to show how they would escape the ‘holding pattern’ Mrs May became stuck in during an interview on Newsnight
‘An extension of time to try to renegotiate, when the EU have already said they have finished the negotiation and, indeed, have disbanded their negotiating team, strikes me as a not very auspicious policy.’
Mr Hammond said neither no deal nor no Brexit was an ‘acceptable outcome’.
‘No deal would be catastrophic for the country and the economy and no Brexit would be seen as a gross breach of faith with the public, with the electorate, and would undermine our political system.’
Chancellor Philip Hammond arrives for the State Dinner at Buckingham Palace with Chief Secretary to the Treasury Liz Truss
‘So we as democrats and we as parliamentarians should be absolutely clear that we cannot tolerate either of those outcomes.’
‘We have a solemn obligation to find a solution which avoids both of those outcomes. That means that even at this late stage, a deal.’
He urged MPs to ‘stop pontificating, get off their high horses and understand that we will all have to give up something to get to a deal that will work.’
‘We will all be grumpy about it, we will all be dissatisfied. But in many ways that is the only way forward for the country,’ he added.
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