TORY high heidyins lined up to put the boot into Boris Johnson at yesterday’s conference in Birmingham, with Chancellor Philip Hammond leading the way.
But the Foreign Secretary wasn’t in the hall to hear any of the digs from his former frontbench colleagues, instead he appeared to be mocking the Prime Minister by going for a run in a field of wheat near his Oxfordshire home.
Last year, during the snap general election campaign, when Theresa May was asked the naughtiest thing she had had ever done as a child was, the Prime Minister admitted that she’s once run through a field of wheat.
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Though, with it being October, it wasn’t wheat the ex-Mayor of London was running through yesterday, but scrubland, full of weeds.
A press photographer was on hand to catch the moment, which completely overshadowed Hammond’s speech.
Johnson is not speaking from the stage at this year’s conference, after walking out of Cabinet in July in protest at the plan agreed at Chequers for the UK’s future relationship with the EU. He is due to speak at what’s been billed as a “Chuck Chequers” rally on the conference fringe today.
Earlier in the day, when asked by the Daily Mail whether Johnson could become Prime Minister, Hammond said: “I don’t expect it to happen.”
Johnson, he said, had “no grasp of detail” and his only achievement were the “Boris Bikes” cycle rental scheme in London.
It was an astonishing criticism of the man who had until three months ago, sat alongside him at the cabinet table as the UK’s most senior diplomat.
Hammond, doing a series of interviews before his speech, was repeatedly asked whether Johnson could ever become Prime Minister, and stated several times: “I don’t believe that will happen.”
He told Sky News: “Of course, Boris is a big personality, nobody is denying that. What I’m saying is that the business of government is a process of attention to detail, follow-through, lots of hard work.
“It isn’t just about making flamboyant statements and big announcements, it’s about getting things done.”
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“When you go into a negotiation you have to understand the position of the people you’re negotiating with,” the Chancellor told BBC Radio 4’s Today.
“It’s no good just ignoring it and banging your head against a brick wall.
“You have got to understand what their red lines are as well so you can try and find a landing ground you can both accept, which means a deal gets done.”
Hammond used his speech to come to the defence of the government’s austerity programme.
And with four weeks to go until the autumn budget, the Chancellor also tried to reassure the party faithful that he was prepared for a no deal Brexit.
“Be in no doubt that I will maintain enough fiscal firepower to support our economy if that happens,” he said.
Labour’s Shadow secretary of state for Scotland, Lesley Laird was unimpressed: “Philip Hammond’s speech to the Tory party conference should leave us in no doubt that this is a zombie government devoid of ideas,” she said.
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