Philip Hammond dialed up the rhetoric and branded the EU ‘the enemy’ today as he desperately tries to hang on to his job as Chancellor.
He said that while ‘passions are running high’ his Tory party colleagues should unite rather than fire off accusations and threats against each other.
And he fended off claims that deep Cabinet divisions risk endangering Britain’s hand in Brexit talks insisting the Government is united in getting the best possible deal.
It comes after a turbulent week for the Chancellor who was branded an ‘Eeyore’ and faced calls to be sacked over his gloomy Brexit predictions.
He told Sky News: ‘My message is this – I understand passions are running high and people have very strong views about this, but we are all going to the same place, e all have the same agenda.
‘We are al signed up to the Prime Minister’s Lancaster House speech, we are all signed up to the Article 50 letter, we are all behind the speech she gave in Florence.
‘The enemy, opponents, are out there on the other side of the table.
‘Those are the people that we have to negotiate with, we have to negotiate hard to get the very best deal for Britain.’
He also denied talking down the economy as he fought back after critics demanded he is sacked as his gloomy predictions risk sabotaging Brexit.
Philip Hammond, pictured yesterday with his US counterpart Steve Mnuchin in Washington, has been accused of being too gloomy over Brexit and facing calls to be sacked
The Chancellor said he found it ‘slightly bizarre’ he has been cast as a doom monger and said he is a realist determined to ‘protect and prepare’ the economy.
And, speaking in Washington, he insisted he is committed to getting a good Brexit deal – but refused to say if he would vote for it if the referendum was rerun.
It comes as fresh details of deep splits between Mr Hammond and his Cabinet colleagues have been revealed.
Cabinet ministers Jeremy Hunt and Sajid Javid were so furious at the lack of planning for a no deal Brexit they confronted Mr Hammond ‘in blunt terms’ over it.
While his once-warm relationship with the PM and the Chancellor has turned so frosty and they now ‘can’t bear’ to be alone together, according to reports.
Mr Hammond told BBC News: ‘It is absurd to pretend that the process we are engaged in hasn’t created some uncertainty. But the underlying economy remains robust.
‘I am committed to delivering a Brexit deal that works for Britain.’
The Chancellor is battling to keep his job in No.11 after business leaders and Tory figures rounded on him for being an ‘Eeyore’ over Brexit.
Earlier this week the PM slapped down Mr Hammond after he publicly said he would not release all the money needed to prepare for a no deal Brexit until the last possible moment.
But the Prime Minster’s spokesman this morning tried to downplay talk of a rift at the heart of government.
Asked if Mrs May have full confidence in her Chancellor, she said: ‘Yes. They have a good working relationship and they work very closely together.’
Business leaders and Tory bigwigs rounded on Mr Hammond yesterday, slamming his ‘negative’ Brexit predictions and calling for him to be axed.
Nigel Lawson, who served as Chancellor under Margaret Thatcher, said his predictions are ‘very close to sabotage’ and that he should be axed from the Cabinet.
Asked whether he should remain as Chancellor, Lord Lawson told BBC2’s Daily Politics yesterday: ‘I fear not. I fear that he is unhelpful.
‘He may not intend it but in practice what he is doing is very close to sabotage.’
Meanwhile Marcus Dolman, the British Exporters Association, said Mr Hammond is being too ‘negative’.
Theresa May, pictured at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital, has seen her relations with Philip Hammond take a battering. The pair have clashed over spending for a no deal Brexit, and things have become so bad they reportedly cannot bear to be in the same room together
Mr Dolman, who is also an executive at Rolls-Royce, said a deal between the EU and the UK was in the ‘best interest’ of both sides.
Asked about the Chancellor’s approach, he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘I think he is probably speaking a little negatively. I think we need to positive about this.
‘Businesses are resilient. They will be planning for eventualities. If there is a hard Brexit, then businesses will find a way around it.’
And Tory MP Kwasi Kwarteng, an aide to the Chancellor, admitted Mr Hammond has a ‘temperament’ issue which can make him appear gloomy.
He told the BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme: ‘A lot of it is an issue of temperament. He is someone who is very clear-eyed, he has a very clear view intellectually of where we are.
‘He is not going to exaggerate possibilities or diminish some of the challenges.
‘Temperamentally he has got a very realistic view of where we are and he’s got the intellectual honesty to describe what he sees and I think that’s the best we can expect.’
Tory grandee Lord Lawson called for Philip Hammond to be sacked as Chancellor over his bleak Brexit warnings – saying they come close to ‘sabotage’