Philip Hammond insisted the Tories are still the party of business today despite mounting tensions over Brexit.
The Chancellor vowed to fight for the interest of industry and entrepreneurs as he risked fuelling Tory splits today by warning about the dangers of crashing out of the EU.
Delivering his speech to conference today, Mr Hammond joked about his reputation for being ‘tight with money’.
He also insisted he would defy calls for a spending splurge amid the Brexit process and keep pushing to balance the books.
‘The outcome will shape the economy for years to come,’ he said.
Earlier, Mr Hammond said Britain had taken a ‘hit’ from the uncertainty since 2016 and suggested some businesses would leave if negotiations with Brussels failed.
He also jibed that many critics of Theresa May’s Chequers blueprint for future relations did not ‘understand’ the proposals.
But he insisted the government would not break its red lines in the talks – saying the UK had the ‘fiscal capacity’ to survive crashing out of the EU.
The comments came after Mr Hammond used an interview with the Daily Mail to launch a furious volley at Boris Johnson.
He said the Brexiteer was incapable of ‘grown-up’ politics and did not have a clue how his own proposal for a future relationship with the EU would work.
The Chancellor (pictured at conference with wife Susan today) delivered another furious volley at Boris Johnson after dismissing his chances of taking over from Theresa May
Mr Hammond said he believed Theresa May (pictured right at Tory conference today) would succeed in thrashing out a deal with the EU
The Chancellor also said Mr Johnson was doomed to fail in his bid to be the next Conservative prime minister.
In a round of interviews ahead of his speech to Tory conference in Birmingham today, Mr Hammond was asked about Mr Johnson’s call for a Canada-style trade deal with the EU.
He said that demand demonstrated the ‘lack of attention to detail’ as the option was not on the table without splitting the UK.
Mr Hammond said Mr Johnson was a ‘big personality’ but government was about ‘lots of hard work’ and ‘follow through’.
‘It isn’t just about making flamboyant statements and big announcements it’s about getting things done,’ he added.
Mr Hammond said the Eurosceptic demands to ‘take back control’ were about a ‘fantasy world’.
‘The EU have been very clear that as they negotiate with us they have their red lines, just as we have our red lines, and they are not prepared to negotiate for a free trade agreement which includes the whole of the United Kingdom because of the impact that would have on the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland,’ he told ITV’s Good Morning Britain.
‘We can spend our time sitting at a table, banging it and demanding something that our negotiating partners have clearly told us is not on offer, or we can try to find a way through with a solution that works for Britain and will also be acceptable to them within their red lines.’
Mr Hammond acknowledged that the UK economy had taken a ‘hit’ because of the uncertainty caused by Brexit.
He said the country would be able to cope with a no-deal outcome as it had ‘fiscal capacity’.
But he warned that ‘no-deal would not be a good outcome’.
‘Clearly there has been a hit to our economy through the uncertainty that the Brexit process has caused,’ he told BBC News.
‘Many businesses are sitting on their hands, frankly, waiting to see what the outturn of this negotiation is before confirming their investment plans, and of course that has an impact on the British economy.’
Asked how this effect could be stopped, he replied: ‘By getting a deal, and I believe that when the Prime Minister lands this deal and brings it back, there will actually be a boost to the economy, as businesses start making those investments that they’ve deferred over the last year or so, consumers start spending on big-ticket items as they feel more confident knowing where we are going in the future.
Boris Johnson (pictured running near his Oxfordshire home today) has let loose at Mrs May’s Chequers plan for Brexit again
Mrs May (pictured) put a brave face on the Tory splits during the first day of the party’s conference yesterday
‘So, there’s a definite upside if we get this deal done and bring it back home, with businesses and consumers feeling more confident and boosting the economy in consequence.’
Asked if the Conservative Party can stay together in the face of differences over Brexit, Mr Hammond told BBC1 Breakfast: ‘We have to, because beyond Brexit … there will be many other big challenges.’
He added: ‘The Tory party has a very strong instinct for self-preservation. That’s why we are one of the longest-lived and most successful political parties anywhere in the world.
‘Of course we have our disagreements. We’ve had our disagreements before.
‘But when the arguments are over, what unites us is much stronger than what divides us and we will come together as a party to fight the next battle – the battle against Labour’s plans to take us back to the 1970s, to destroy the economic progress that we have made and to undermine the future of our country.’