PM had to separate ministers in bust-up at Commons

Theresa May was forced to intervene to stop a stand-up row between two warring Cabinet Ministers in the Commons, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

The Prime Minister stepped in after Chancellor Philip Hammond and Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson hurled abuse at each other as a simmering feud over defence cuts boiled over into a shouting match.

Witnesses reported the astonishing sight of Mr Williamson and Mr Hammond going ‘toe to toe’ in the Commons last week, with Mr Williamson angrily accusing Mr Hammond of publicly insulting him over his handling of the MoD.

Mr Hammond defended himself, arguing he had done no such thing. At this point a horrified Mrs May, standing just feet away, stepped in to break up the row.

A well-placed source said: ‘She made it clear the two of them should grow up and calm down. After slugging it out toe to toe, they trudged off like naughty schoolboys.’

The extraordinary confrontation took place at 8pm on Wednesday during a key vote on Brexit legislation.

The Prime Minister stepped in after Chancellor Philip Hammond, pictured left, and Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson, pictured right, hurled abuse at each other

It was the culmination of an explosive rift between the two men, first revealed in this newspaper last weekend.

We reported how Mr Hammond’s allies had accused Mr Williamson, promoted to Defence Secretary last month, of deliberately stirring up a row over defence cuts.

Mr Williamson was said to be furious over the way one of Mr Hammond’s allies had compared him to the naive Dad’s Army character Private Pike.

Within 24 hours, Mr Williamson retaliated by banning the Chancellor from taking the RAF aircraft reserved for official government and Royal business, claiming the Treasury had failed to pay the MoD a six-figure bill.

Then, on Wednesday, Mr Hammond struck back by saying that the Defence Secretary had yet to ‘get his head around’ his own budget.

Hours later, the two men came face-to-face in the Commons when they voted on the EU Withdrawal Bill.

A well-placed source said: ‘[Theresa May, pictured] made it clear the two of them should grow up and calm down. After slugging it out toe to toe, they trudged off like naughty schoolboys’

Within moments, a fierce argument had broken out, although there are conflicting accounts as to who started it.

According to one Tory MP, Mr Williamson was the aggressor. ‘Gavin went for Philip’s throat,’ said the MP.

‘All the pent-up anger came spilling out. Hammond looked taken aback, but then gave as good as he got. The PM could see it was all getting out of hand and broke it up.’

The confrontation came amid a growing rebellion by backbench Tory MPs over threatened cuts to the MoD budget, a dispute which the Treasury believes is being stirred up by Mr Williamson to boost his career and win the respect of the Armed Forces.

The Treasury is convinced that Mr Williamson – who was parachuted in to the Defence Secretary job last month when Sir Michael Fallon was forced out over a sex harassment scandal – is ‘on manoeuvres’ to position himself for a run at party leader when Theresa May steps down.

The drama erupted in the House of Commons, according to insiders (stock photo)

Since his appointment, he has made a series of eye-catching announcements including – in the past week alone – vowing to hunt down and kill British jihadis, and saving Army dogs from being put down.

Mr Williamson, 41, tried to drag a reluctant No 10 into his row with Mr Hammond last week by complaining to senior aides about ‘negative briefing’ from the Treasury following the backbench rebellion.

But it was the description of him resembling Pike, the ‘stupid boy’ in the BBC comedy, as he sat with seasoned officers, which really stung Mr Williamson.

His allies responded by telling The Mail on Sunday that Mr Hammond left the Forces in a ‘parlous state’ during his own time as Defence Secretary and would be held to account for it.

It was also claimed that Mr Hammond, 62, had told the Prime Minister that the Army needs as few as 50,000 troops, a cut of nearly 30,000, which was dismissed by the Treasury as ‘utterly untrue’.

Mr Williamson is due to hold talks with Mr Hammond before Christmas to thrash out how to fill a £2 billion hole in the MoD budget.

Mr Hammond told the Treasury Select Committee on Wednesday: ‘There is no question of the defence budget being cut.

You have been watching Pike… and ‘we’re all doomed’ Frazer 

Allies of Mr Williamson liken the Chancellor to the doomsaying undertaker Private Frazer in the BBC programme – because Mr Hammond is an ‘Eeyorish’ character who is always ‘downbeat’ about Brexit and the economy. 

‘The defence budget is being increased. I expect that once he has had a chance to understand the situation in the Ministry of Defence, and to get his head around the defence budget, the new Defence Secretary will be wanting to come and talk to me and he will find no one more sympathetic to the challenges of defence than me’.

An ally of Mr Williamson said: ‘Gavin will just turn this to his advantage. Pike was the next generation after all – and at least he is still with us.’

The actor who played Pike, Ian Lavender, is one of just two Dad’s Army cast members still alive. The other is Frank Williams, 86, who played vicar Timothy Farthing.

Mr Williamson’s camp also liken the Chancellor to doom-mongering, penny-pinching undertaker Private Frazer in the BBC show, because Mr Hammond is always ‘downbeat’ about Brexit and the economy.

Tory MPs say that Mr Williamson is ‘very active’ talking to MPs in the Commons tea rooms, which they interpret as a sign that he is preparing to mount a leadership bid.

Mr Hammond’s allies think that Mr Williamson cooked up the backbench rebellion over cuts in order to distract attention from the row over his fast-track promotion to the Cabinet. They believe he is exaggerating the financial pressures so that he can claim a ‘win’ if the cuts fail to materialise, and so boost his leadership hopes.

No 10, the Treasury and the MoD all declined to comment. Mr Williamson also declined to comment.

…And then blamed ‘Frazer’ of Treasury for delaying pay rise for 195,000 troops

By Mark Nicol, Defence Correspondent for the Mail On Sunday 

Nearly 200,000 troops have been told they will have to wait for a pay rise promised in the Budget – a delay Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson has blamed on Chancellor Philip Hammond.

All servicemen and women across the Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force were supposed to get a one per cent hike in April 2018. But now, in a crushing blow to morale just before Christmas, the increase has been postponed.

Last night, the Ministry of Defence confirmed that because of red tape the soldiers, sailors and airmen and women will not get their pay rise when promised. Instead, troops will get the money at a later date.

But, remarkably, the MoD could not say when that will be.

Defence officials said the delay had been caused by Mr Hammond’s decision to move the Budget from April to November. But this was dismissed by former head of the Royal Navy Lord West, who called for the ‘shocking blunder’ to be rectified immediately. It will mean Britain’s lowest-paid troops, who earn £18,500, miss out on about £15 per month.

The apparent attempt by Mr Williamson – dubbed Private Pike – and his staff to shame the Chancellor publicly over the pay delay came as the Cabinet rivals continued their increasingly personal dispute over defence spending.

In a letter published on the website of the independent Armed Forces Pay Review Body (AFPRB) – which advises the MoD on pay issues – Mr Williamson appeared to blame the delay on Mr Hammond’s shake-up of the fiscal calendar.

Last night, Treasury sources interpreted the Defence Secretary’s comments as a ‘cheap jibe’ at the Chancellor, who allies of Mr Williamson have now dubbed Frazer after Private Pike’s dour Dad’s Army comrade.

Writing to AFPRB chairman John Steele on December 7, Mr Williamson referred to the ‘inconvenience’ of moving the Budget from the spring to autumn, which he suggested meant troops could not receive their pay rise on time.

He wrote: ‘The MoD will continue to support the work of the AFPRB, noting the inconvenience of the changed timeline and implications for a deferred announcement of the [pay] award after April 1.

‘We have communicated the delay to Service personnel, explaining that both the review body and the Government are seeking to keep any delays to an absolute minimum and that pay awards will be backdated to April 1.’ But last night Lord West said he could not understand how the MoD was incapable of processing the pay rise regardless of Mr Hammond moving the Budget.

Lord West said: ‘It does not seem remotely complicated to me to add one per cent to everyone’s pay on April 1, which is still some way off. This is an appalling error which will have quite an impact on our lowest paid servicemen and women.’

And former Labour Defence Minister Kevan Jones added: ‘Mr Williamson is just passing the buck. In real terms, our Armed Forces have had years of pay cuts so delaying the rise is yet another insult.’

Mr Williamson’s thinly veiled attack on the Chancellor represents a further escalation in the row between the Cabinet rivals over proposed cuts to Britain’s over-stretched Armed Forces.

It follows Mr Hammond suggesting that Mr Williamson, who was appointed Defence Secretary last month following Sir Michael Fallon’s resignation, was yet to understand his brief.

It remained unclear last night how many other workers would be affected by the delay. The Home Office and the Department for Education confirmed there were no changes to proposed timetables for its workers to receive pay rises.

A Treasury spokesman said: ‘All public sector staff covered by a pay review body will receive next year’s increase in full and backdated, no matter when the deal is agreed.’ 

Outsider with his sights zeroed in on No10 

Comment by Simon Walters, Political Editor for the Mail On Sunday 

Few had heard of Gavin Williamson until he replaced Defence Secretary Michael Fallon who was forced to resign last month over sexual harassment claims

Just a month ago the idea of Gavin Williamson succeeding Theresa May if, as many expect, she stands down as Prime Minister after Britain leaves the EU in March 2019, would have been dismissed as a joke.

Few had heard of him until he replaced Defence Secretary Michael Fallon who was forced to resign last month over sexual harassment claims.

But the moment Williamson got his feet under his MoD desk he launched a one-man publicity blitz: he picked a public fight with Chancellor Philip Hammond over defence cuts, saved two military dogs from being put down and last week said all Britons who had fought for ISIS should be killed.

Those who scoffed at the idea that Williamson plans a late run for the Tory leadership post-March 2019 have been forced to reconsider. On the face of it, it’s an unlikely scenario: a 40-something Tory MP with a state school background, nasal whiney voice, seen as a ‘grey’ nonentity, best known for plotting in the Whips office, wins the confidence of a female PM reaching the end of her Downing Street reign, gets massive global-role Cabinet promotion from her and, 16 months later, beats the charismatic, but flawed blond Tory heartthrob seen as destined for greatness.

I am not referring to how Gavin Williamson might beat Boris Johnson in the race to succeed Mrs May in 2019, but how Sir John Major beat Michael Heseltine in the race to succeed Margaret Thatcher in 1990.

The parallels are intriguing.

Major was 45 when Thatcher, desperate to find an alternative heir to her pro-EU Tory foe Heseltine, plucked him from relative obscurity to make him Foreign Secretary in July 1989.

Major made his Tory reputation as a Whip and was derided by snobbish colleagues for his flat South London vowels, state school education and accountant’s background.

But he wooed Mrs Thatcher and, when she was forced to resign in November 1990, her support helped him pull off a surprise victory. He defeated Heseltine, known for his flowing blond locks and flamboyant temperament.

Those who scoffed at the idea that Williamson plans a late run for the Tory leadership post-March 2019 have been forced to reconsider

In the eyes of some Conservative grandees, Williamson, 41, is as much of a Tory ‘outsider’ as Major. He went to a comprehensive school, ran a pottery company before entering Parliament and, until his MoD move, was the Party’s Chief Whip. Despite having been David Cameron’s Commons aide, he switched his allegiance to Mrs May and quickly became a member of No 10’s inner circle.

Her decision to grant his plea to make him Defence Secretary last month was as big as surprise as Thatcher giving Major the Foreign Office out of the blue nearly 30 years ago. Just as Major was mocked for supposedly tucking his shirt inside his underpants and lacking the elan to be Britain’s premier diplomat, skinny Williamson has had to fend off jibes from Tory critics that he is like ‘Pike’ in the Dad’s Army TV series.

But, like Major, wily Williamson is a man in a hurry and is winning support on the Tory backbenches and sections of the media with his populist utterances.

Johnson shares Heseltine’s flair and brilliance, but as with Hezza, there will always be a hard core of Tories unwilling to entrust gaffe-prone Boris with the keys to No 10.

If there is someone less exciting, but with down-to-earth roots, who has the support of a much-loved outgoing leader and can be presented as a vote-winning ‘break with the past’, they could win – just like Major.

The signs are Williamson has made the same calculation.

We may find out in March 2019. It is only 15 months away.