Joel Casement
On 12 June 2019 13:37
Philip Hammond has been the persistent thorn in the side of Brexit. From his position as Chancellor of the Exchequer and the most senior Remainer - behind only Theresa May - Hammond has been directing his efforts towards frustrating the Brexit process since the EU Referendum on June 23rd 2016, almost 3 years ago.
Hammond has consistently and systematically undermined Great Britain’s democratic decision to Leave the EU.
Late last week Hammond made public - in open defiance of the Conservative Party’s Manifesto - that he would prefer to see a second referendum than a No Deal WTO-terms Brexit.
He has even stated he would be willing to back a vote of No Confidence in a Conservative Government if a new Prime Minister backed No Deal.
He seems to conveniently forget No Deal is still the legal exit option in the Government’s European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Act 2017.
Hammond’s outspoken stance would be enough for any MP to be reprimanded by the Party, so why does he get away with his outrageous comments? What makes our Chancellor of the Exchequer exempt from both Cabinet Collective Responsibility as well as flouting the result of the EU Referendum result?
In holding a prominent position within Government and the Conservative Party, surely he should be held to a higher level of accountability? But Hammond seems to be an arrogant, self-serving individual who has evaded consequence. He needs to be ‘de-selected’ by his local Conservative Party Association and drummed out of his position, endlessly embarrassing our great nation.
As Chancellor for all 3 years of the Brexit process he has had the authoritative signature on our No Deal funding. Numerous departments have complained about being ‘drip fed’ much-needed money for preparations.
This has meant preparations for a No Deal Brexit have been, in practice, almost impossible. This is a disgrace. It has been unreasonable and irresponsible. If indeed he has withheld funding, and we do leave on a No Deal Brexit, he should be held to account for potentially delaying such a decision and deliberately sabotaging our great country.
Theresa May formally resigned from the office of the Leader of the Conservative and Unionist Party last Friday, June 7th. However, she will stay on as our Prime Minister until a new Conservative Party Leader is announced, rumoured to be during the week beginning July 21st.
The fight for who will be our new Prime Minister formally began on Monday, June 10th. However, it has also emerged Theresa May could still delay her resignation as PM if, say, Boris Johnson or Dominic Raab win the race as hardline Brexiteers, and if she believes they would not win a vote of confidence in Parliament by those who want a ‘soft Brexit’ as well as the support of the DUP. If so, this would also be disgraceful.
When Theresa May leaves office it is rumoured in her honours list she may give Hammond a Lordship and shunt him up to the House of Lords, preventing him returning to the back-benches. This would be one of the best decisions May could make in her final weeks.
However, there were even rumours of Hammond’s ambitions to run for Prime Minister. This trod the line between rhilarious and spine-chillingly horrific. The last thing anyone in our United Kingdom would want is Philip Hammond as our Prime Minister.
Whoever replaces Theresa May, should use their first act as Prime Minister to banish Hammond from the House of Commons for good, and replace him with a Chancellor of the Exchequer who firmly believes in both our Great United Kingdom -and Brexit.
Joel Casement is a Research Executive at cross-party, grassroots Eurosceptic group Get Britain Out
