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Philip Hammond tore into Boris Johnson’s Brexit “bravado” today with a warning that the Prime Minister will face immediate court action if he attempts to crash out of the European Union without a deal.
The former chancellor said Downing Street proposals for a deal were “never going to fly” and that the Government had “recklessly” squandered the £27 billion headroom, or deal dividend, that he left behind.
“I don’t care what they say in Downing Street, this is bravado,” he told Sky News of Mr Johnson’s vow to leave on October 31. He warned: “If Boris Johnson doesn’t comply with his obligations under the Benn Act, there will be action in the court to force the Government to comply.”
Mr Johnson met Irish PM Leo Varadkar at a “luxury wedding venue” today to discuss the acrimonious EU divorce. The secret venue was revealed to be Thornton Manor, a Wirral stately home where Coleen Rooney held her 21st birthday party.
Hopes of a breakthrough were low and there were no plans for a press conference. A key issue was giving Nationalists a greater say over customs arrangements, after Mr Johnson said in an Evening Standard interview he wanted to avoid a so-called “DUP veto”.
In a dramatic intervention, the Chief Medical Officer warned that patients’ lives “are at risk” in a no-deal departure. Dame Sally Davies said: “We cannot guarantee that there will not be shortages, not only in medicines but technology and gadgets and things. And there may be deaths, we can’t guarantee there won’t.”
Pressed on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme if lives would be at risk, she firmly replied: “They are at risk.”
Mr Hammond put himself at the head of a Tory rebellion against the Party leader’s plan for an early general election and “immediate” Brexit if he wins.
The former chancellor said he would personally vote against an election: “I don’t think an election solves our problem here. I would not support an election at the moment,” he told Today.
He said the Conservative reputation for being “responsible with the economy” was in peril. “I do worry about a strategy which is reckless about our economic future in terms of advocating no-deal Brexit and reckless about our public finances in terms of spending money that, frankly, at this point in the Brexit negotiation, we cannot be sure we have available.”
Business minister Kwasi Kwarteng said Mr Johnson and Mr Varadkar were “seriously focused” on a deal.
But Business Secretary Andrea Leadsom suggested last night that the PM might sabotage an extension of Brexit if he was required to seek one under the Benn Act. Speaking on ITV’s Peston programme, she was asked if Mr Johnson might send a letter requesting an extension while telling European leaders he does not really want it. Ms Leadsom replied: “Absolutely.”
The Government responded to Dame Sally’s warning by saying it was well prepared for Brexit. A “Brexit warehouse” will hold about 1,000 extra products including medical gloves, needles and dressings at a cost of about £5 million. Asked in the Commons if he could say that no person “will suffer in their health”, the minister in charge of preparations, Michael Gove, replied: “Yes.”
Before his meeting with the PM, Mr Varadkar said it would be “very difficult” to secure a deal next week.
Former foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt wrote to EU leaders last night urging them to compromise or risk Britain hardening its position after an election.
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