21st July, 2019
Britain’s chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond said Sunday he would make a point of resigning before Boris Johnson became prime minister, saying he could never agree to his Brexit strategy.
Johnson is expected to take office on Wednesday, vowing to deliver Brexit on October 31 come what may, in the face of intense opposition in parliament.
Hammond, who holds the equivalent post of finance minister, has become an increasingly fierce critic of Johnson’s approach.
His resignation would show the depth of opposition Johnson may find himself up against as PM, observers said.
Former London mayor Johnson is the runaway favourite to win the governing Conservative Party’s leadership contest on Tuesday and then replace Prime Minister Theresa May when she quits the premiership on Wednesday.
Observers say Hammond would never have expected to remain as Chancellor of the Exchequer under Johnson anyway.
But the fact that the second most senior figure in the government is pre-empting his removal in any cabinet reshuffle by the incoming prime minister is seen as significant.
“I’m sure I’m not going to be sacked because I’m going to resign before we get to that point,” Hammond told BBC television.
“I understand that his conditions for serving in his government would include accepting a no-deal exit on the 31st of October.
“That is not something that I could ever sign up to.”
The postal ballot of 160,000 grassroots party members is expected to return Johnson, 55, as the new Conservative leader over his contender, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt.
Any remaining ballots must be delivered by Monday at 5:00pm (1600 GMT). Bookmakers give Hunt around a one-in-15 chance of victory.
The centre-right Conservatives command a razor-thin majority in parliament’s lower House of Commons and Johnson’s opponents — both within and outside the party — are keen to scupper his leadership.
Johnson has vowed to take Britain out of the European Union on October 31, with or without a divorce deal.