"Become the center of the opposition": how the resignation of Philip Hammond can influence British politics

British Treasury Secretary Philip Hammond said he intends to resign before Acting Prime Minister Theresa May will transfer her powers to his successor on July 24. The politician said this on July 21 on the BBC television channel.

Answering the question of the moderator, whether Hammond expects to be fired, the head of the Ministry of Finance answered:

“I am sure that dismissal does not threaten me, because I am going to leave myself without waiting for it. I intend to file my resignation request to Teresa May before she goes to Buckingham Palace on Wednesday with her statement. ”

According to Hammond, he is not ready to work with ex-foreign minister Boris Johnson, who, according to polls, is leading in the fight for the post of prime minister. In particular, the head of the British Treasury is not satisfied with Johnson’s intention to leave the EU without a deal. The former head of the British Foreign Office has repeatedly stated that he will implement brexit before October 31 of this year in any way.

“I would never support this option. It is very important that the Prime Minister have the opportunity to work with the Minister of Finance, who would agree with his policies, ”said Hammond.

Recall, the British Prime Minister Theresa May announced her intention to resign as head of the ruling Conservative Party on May 24, 2019. He who replaces her in this post will become the new chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of the United Kingdom. The process of electing a new conservative leader should end on July 22. This is the last day that ordinary members of the party can vote by mail, choosing one of two candidates: Boris Johnson or Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt.

On July 21, The Sun reported that, according to a survey conducted by her, 73% of conservatives are for Johnson. Similar figures appeared earlier in another study conducted by YouGov, a sociological service commissioned by The Times.

Brexit brake

Philip Hammond over the past 10 years, after the conservatives came to power in the United Kingdom, has earned a reputation as a political heavyweight. While other ministers came and went, he continued to occupy high government posts. Even the replacement of David Cameron as prime minister was not affected by Teresa May. Over the years, Hammond managed to visit the Minister of Transport, Defense, Foreign Affairs and finally Finance (Chancellor of the Treasury). This position is considered the second in importance after the premiere.

• March of Brexit opponents in London
• globallookpress.com
• © Bettina Strenske

And although it was under Hammond, in 2017, that Britain dropped out of the list of the five largest economies in the world according to the IMF version, experts estimate the results of its work as a whole positively.

“Philip Hammond was a good finance minister. After the Brexit referendum, despite all terrible predictions, nothing happened with the economy of the UK, and even opposite, unemployment significantly decreased and jobs appeared. I think this is also his merit, ”said Natalia Kapitonova, a professor at the MGIMO, in an interview with RT.

However, in the UK itself, the Chancellor of the Treasury is actively criticized. Not so much for the economy, as for political miscalculations.

As Minister of Finance, which he took in 2016, Hammond had to deal largely with Brexit-related issues. In 2017, he even called the EU an “enemy” in the context of negotiations on this topic, for which he was later forced to apologize. As a result, one of the results of the work of the Cabinet of May and Hammond was an agreement with the EU, which was not approved by the British Parliament. That it was the reason for the resignation of Theresa May.

As the newspaper The Telegraph notes, it was Hammond’s position to refuse to consider the possibility of leaving the EU without a deal that weakened the negotiating positions of the British government. Because of this, Prime Minister Theresa May was unable to reach an agreement acceptable to Parliament with the EU and resigned. Also, according to the publication, the office of Philip Hammond did not allocate a sufficient amount of funds necessary to prepare for Brexit without an agreement with the EU.

According to Natalia Eremina, associate professor at the Department of European Studies at the Faculty of International Relations of SPSU, Hammond’s resignation is “a confirmation of a long-standing trend - a split within the Conservative Party.

“This confirms that the party is reeling. And this will continue for quite a long time, and it is completely incomprehensible how it will emerge from this crisis, ”said RT Eremina.

According to the expert, the resignations in the government of Theresa May have already become a “ritual phenomenon” and demonstrate that the current prime minister could not achieve a unified position from her Brexit cabinet.

Led rebellion

According to Natalia Kapitonova, the resignation of Philip Hammond is "demonstrative."

“Obviously, Hammond’s withdrawal is directed against Johnson and against his possible plans for leaving the EU without an agreement, the so-called landslide exit from the EU,” the expert believes.

On the eve of the resignation in an interview with European media, Hammond said that he would oppose Brexit by any means without a deal, not excluding including a vote of no confidence in Boris Johnson. Earlier, Hammond supported the idea of ​​a new Brexit referendum.

• Boris Johnson
• globallookpress.com
• © Andrew Parsons

On July 18, 2019, the British Parliament passed an amendment to the Northern Ireland Self-Government Act, blocking Brexit without a UK deal with the EU. Despite the position of the Prime Minister, who had previously announced the possibility of withdrawing without a deal, several ministers, and Hammond among them, refused to support the head of the cabinet and vote against the amendment.

The Chancellor of the Treasury, along with Minister of Justice David Gock, Minister for International Development Rory Stewart and Business Minister Greg Clark abstained from voting. Margo James, the Minister of Culture and Digital Technology, even resigned to vote against the government’s position. A number of media outlets blamed Hammond. So, according to Daily Express, the chancellor “stabbed in the back” to the future premier.

The day before Philip Hammond announced his resignation of the desire to leave the ministerial post, David Gock said, also because of disagreement with the position of Boris Johnson. At the same time, as the Daily Mail reported earlier, three cabinet ministers, Hammond, Gok and Stewart, were about to leave their posts if Johnson won.

• Meetings of the House of Commons of the British Parliament
• AFP
• © Jessica Taylor / UK Parliament

According to Natalia Kapitonova, "Philip Hammond can become the center of opposition to Boris Johnson in the conservative party." In turn, the head of the Center for Political Integration of the Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences Lyudmila Babynina believes that Johnson’s opponents are largely concentrated in the Conservative parliamentary faction.

“Of course, Hammond can join them,” Babynina said in a conversation with RT.

In the anti-Russian trend

The Russians Philip Hammond could be remembered for rather harsh statements about our country in those years when he was in charge of the Defense Ministry and the Foreign Office. So, he called our country "a challenge and a threat to all", accused of violating international law, demanded the return of Crimea to Ukraine, supported the Islamists in Syria, and acted as one of the initiators of European sanctions currently in force against Russia.

However, despite the departure of Philip Hammond from the British government, London is unlikely to change the policy towards Moscow, experts say. The most likely future Prime Minister Boris Johnson, like his rival Jeremy Hunt, also distinguished itself by a multitude of anti-Russian statements.

“The appropriate attitude towards Russia is now the general trend of the British political elite,” explained Natalya Kapitonova. - Figures that are set to normalize relations with Russia are not there. And expect from Johnson that the Russian-British relations will change for the better, there is no special reason. ”

At the same time, according to her, the new cabinet has a theoretical opportunity for ministers to reconsider their positions on Moscow. However, whether Boris Johnson will use it is a big question.

“I would not expect that Russian-British relations will somehow improve for the better, regardless of who will be the new prime minister. Philip Hammond is not the most anti-Russian politician in the British establishment, so his departure does not play any role. Neither Hammond nor Johnson are in favor of improving relations with Russia, ”summed up Lyudmila Babynina.