May must follow Thatcher example and defy Hammond on Brexit, demands senior Tory
GETTY Theresa May has been warned to defy Phillip Hammond and seek to deliver a “clean Brexit”
Bernard Jenkin, a Conservative MP who chairs the Commons Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee, has accused Tory ministers of being “vague” and “divided”. He also suggested that Mrs May should follow in Margaret Thatcher’s footsteps by challenging “established ‘group think’ based on cherished but outdated notions”. He added: “What would have happened to Mrs Thatcher’s economic policy in 1980 if the Treasury had captured Chancellor Howe and Nigel Lawson, and the UK had gone back to the failed economic consensus of the 1960s and 1970s? “On European policy, she won the battle of the rebate, saving billions every year since, but only by defying the Foreign Office, including its ministers.”
His words have come as Boris Johnson and Michael Gove are set to this week warn pro-Remain Cabinet members against joining a post-Brexit Customs Union with the EU in what is expected to be a heated Cabinet meeting, it has been reported. The confrontation will reportedly mark the first time senior Government members have debated the issue. The three ministers will argue that the UK must be allowed to strike its own free trade deals after leaving the EU, it has been reported.
Theresa May’s Tory Brexit rebels Thu, December 14, 2017 Theresa May’s Tory Brexit rebels: The MPs who backed the amendment to the Brexit bill. Play slideshow Getty 1 of 12 Theresa May’s Tory Brexit rebels
But Phillip Hammond, Amber Rudd and Greg Clark are understood to want to adopt a new Customs Union with the EU so that they can limit the loss of trade with the Brussels bloc. Mr Jenkin said: “If ministers are vague or divided, life for officials becomes impossible, as we can see now. Ministerial collective responsibility really matters. “If the Prime Minister sticks to one policy ('I do not want Britain to be part of the Common Commercial Policy and I do not want us to be bound by the Common External Tariff') and the Chancellor keeps advocating another ('I welcomed Carolyn Fairbairn’s speech on Monday' advocating a customs union with the EU), what are officials meant to do?”
GETTY Phillip Hammond is understood to want to adopt a new Customs Union with the EU
He added: "Theresa May will be rewarded for her continuing consistency and determination. She can only command a majority in Parliament on her present policy. “Her MPs will back her, because we are overwhelmingly at one with the majority of the British people who now want a clean Brexit and an end to the present uncertainty. “It is time for all her ministers to back her too and to end the confusion they are fomenting in Government.”