The chancellor Philip Hammond has been quite blunt by telling Tory leadership contenders to explain how they will not end up being “Theresa May mark two” on Brexit.
Hammond suggested everyone will be “grumpy and dissatisfied” once a withdrawal agreement has been agreed on.
Hammond told BBC2’s Newsnight referring to the contenders, “Explain to me how you will avoid becoming Theresa May mark two, stuck in a holding pattern.”
According to the BBC Hammond said, “We will all be grumpy about it, we will all be dissatisfied. But in many ways that is the only way forward for the country.
“If we end up with a deal that means half the people in this country think they achieved total victory and the other half think they have been totally defeated, that is not the recipe for unity in the future.
“And countries that are not unified are not successful.”
Some of the Tory contenders were criticised over their Brexit stance.
Hammond said, “An extension of time to try to renegotiate, when the EU have already said they have finished the negotiation and, indeed, have disbanded their negotiating team, strikes me as a not very auspicious policy.”
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