- Nineteen prisoners use cutlery to break out of cells at Winchester prison
- France wants progress in Ukraine before Russia returns to G7
- Italy president begins talks to seek way out of government crisis
- Italian PM expected to resign as political chaos deepens
- Russia says US cruise missile test ‘regrettable’
- Kremlin - No date set for Normandy talks on Ukraine despite Macron meeting
- Egypt court hands out 6 death sentences on terror charges
- Putin says Russian nuclear explosion poses no threat
- Russian panel eyes alleged foreign interference in protests
- Gran Canaria wildfire triggers evacuation of thousands of people
- PM Johnson calls on Germany and France to compromise on Brexit
- Sudan's ex-president Bashir arrives at corruption trial
TEHRAN, Jul 21 - Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond said he plans to quit his post on Wednesday if Boris Johnson beats Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt in the race to succeed Prime Minister Theresa May. In a BBC TV interview, he cited Johnson’s demand that members of his government should accept the chance of a no-deal Brexit on Oct. 31.
TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC) - "That is not something I could ever sign up to," Hammond said. "It’s very important that a prime minister is able to have a chancellor who is closely aligned with him in terms of policy, and I therefore intend to resign to Theresa May before she goes to the palace to tender her own resignation on Wednesday."
Asked if he’d also quit if Hunt were to pull of a surprise and beat the favorite, Hammond suggested he wouldn’t, saying "Jeremy’s position is more nuanced and I haven’t heard him express clearly a requirement for a sort of loyalty pledge around the Oct. 31 no-deal exit."
Irish Deputy Prime Minister Simon Coveney on Sunday pushed back against a number of Brexit positions espoused by Boris Johnson. In a BBC interview, he said Ireland isn’t prepared to renegotiate the Brexit withdrawal agreement negotiated by Theresa May and won’t drop the Irish backstop provision in it.
“If the approach of the new British PM is that they’re going to tear up the withdrawal agreement then I think that we’re in trouble,” Coveney said. “It’s important to say very clearly if respectfully that the facts don’t change around Brexit.”
Coveney also said Johnson’s suggestion to keep no-tariff and no-quota trade after a no-deal Brexit by relying on the World Trade Organization’s GATT treaty isn’t a “viable option at all.” He did say, however, that Ireland is prepared to countenance a different vision of the future relationship between the U.K. and EU than that advanced by May.
Ireland would also look at realistic options for alternative arrangements to ensure frictionless trade at the border with Northern Ireland.
Source: Bloomberg
Your Comment