Eurosceptic Tories are urging Theresa May to remove Philip Hammond from the Treasury in next week’s reshuffle to prevent him ‘frustrating’ Brexit.
The Chancellor was widely seen to have saved his job with a well-received Budget in November in which he set aside £3 billion to help prepare the UK for leaving the EU.
But some Tory MPs are still urging Mrs May to sack him, warning that his lukewarm stance on Brexit risks wrecking the Government’s central mission.
Some Tory MPs are still urging Theresa May (pictured) to sack Philip Hammond, warning that his lukewarm stance on Brexit risks wrecking the Government’s central mission
One senior Eurosceptic said: ‘All that matters in the reshuffle is that she moves the Chancellor.
‘She has the authority to do it and she must. No government ever succeeds if the prime minister and chancellor are at daggers drawn.
‘Their relationship seems so poisonous that we will end up in a situation where the government cannot function.
‘He can obstruct everything she wants to do and vice versa. We are already seeing that – he wants to build on the Green Belt and she blocks him, so housing policy gets gummed up.
‘The health service needs an extra £10 billion, but if the Chancellor doesn’t want it, it doesn’t happen.
‘Most importantly he’s involved in all the key decisions on Brexit, acting as a drag on what needs to be done.
‘She doesn’t have to sack him, but she does have to move him and put someone in the Treasury who shares her views on what needs to be done.’
Another MP said: ‘The Prime Minister does need to move the Chancellor if she is going to make a success of Brexit – he’s a dead weight on everything.’
Mr Hammond is the Cabinet’s leading Remainer, whose gloomy warnings about Brexit have angered colleagues.
But allies insist he has shifted his position significantly in recent months and is now fully behind the PM’s drive to take the UK out of the single market.
Mr Hammond (pictured) is the Cabinet’s leading Remainer, whose gloomy warnings about Brexit have angered colleagues. But allies insist he has shifted his position significantly in recent months and is now fully behind the PM’s drive to take the UK out of the single market
Mrs May is set to carry out a reshuffle in the coming days following the sacking of her deputy Damian Green over sleaze claims last month.
Tory Party chairman Sir Patrick McLoughlin is also set to be pensioned off.
Government insiders say she has yet to make up her mind about whether to take the opportunity to conduct a wide-ranging reshuffle or keep it to a more limited affair.
Mrs May has a prickly relationship with Mr Hammond and considered sacking him last year. But, with her position still week, most now expect him to keep his job.
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt is the frontrunner to replace Mr Green, who played a key role at the heart of government, but the PM has yet to decide whether to reward him with the title First Secretary of State.