Pro-Brexit Tory takes fresh swipe at Philip Hammond and says all 'Remain Cabinet members' should be sacked
3 min read
A Conservative MP has taken a thinly-veiled swipe at Philip Hammond – accusing the Chancellor of an “unhelpful and dangerous” approach to Brexit.
Marcus Fysh - who sits on the European Scrutiny Committee and the select committee for international trade - urged the Prime Minister to dump Remain supporting ministers and create a ‘Brexit Cabinet’.
It comes as Theresa May met key ministers in the so-called ‘Brexit War Cabinet’ today to hammer out their hopes for the UK’s future relationship with the EU.
Anti-EU Tories renewed their attacks on Mr Hammond last week after he called for “very modest” changes to the relationship between Britain and the EU after Brexit.
He was slapped down by Downing Street for his comments at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where he also suggested there could be little change to current migratory flows across the Channel.
In an article for the Daily Telegraph today, Mr Fysh hit out at members of the Cabinet who do not “understand the issues and trade-offs properly” in the Brexit debate.
“The approach of those in Cabinet seeking high alignment with cherry picking is doomed to failure, procedurally and politically,” he wrote.
“Their attempts to shift government policy away from the course the Prime Minister set out, and on which we stood together for election, are unhelpful and dangerous.
“If they wish to insist on it, I believe they should do so from the backbenches.”
He added: “This is a time for a Brexit Cabinet made up of people who understand the issues and trade-offs properly.
“The current one simply doesn’t cut it, the advice they are being given is dreadful, and they do not have the nous to see it, falling instead for the same canards about anything but the status quo being disastrous which prompted many of them to vote Remain."
And he said: “Not only were those positions rejected by the British people, they are based on flawed economic models and lack of understanding of the real world dynamics of global trade and ways in which the global economy can go to the next level.
“The irony is some of these people see economics as more important than anything else, including sovereignty, another contention effectively rejected by the Referendum vote.”
However, Downing Street defended Mr Hammond this morning, with a spokesman for the Prime Minister saying: "The Chancellor is doing a good job. Look at the economic statistics in terms of borrowing being lower than expected and in terms of record levels of employment."
Mr Fysh's intervention comes after fellow anti-EU Tory Nadine Dorries urged the Prime Minister to sack Mr Hammond for what she claimed was disloyalty on Brexit.
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