Philip Hammond has made a vow to the EU that Britain is going to “fight back” if it doesn’t get the desired deal in Brexit, as opposed to the other approach, which he says would be to “slink off like a wounded animal.”
Hammond was appearing on ‘The Andrew Marr Show’
Hammond’s comments came during an appearance on BBC’s “The Andrew Marr Show.” Marr used to be the political editor for the BBC and his show often features big-name political guests such as Hammond, who is a high-profile Conservative politician and has been Chancellor of the Exchequer since David Cameron resigned and Theresa May took his place.
Hammond’s appearance on Marr’s show and passionate views about the EU deal come amid the Parliament debate of Theresa May’s scant Article 50 bill, which is barely the length of a tweet, which she’s done so there’s no wiggle room at all for debate because she’s very sneaky like that. His comments are some of the most powerful spoken by anyone up top during the Article 50 debate.
May is desperate to trigger Article 50
May will stop at nothing to trigger Article 50, and really doesn’t care what the MPs think of the bill and what should be changed about it, because she’s happy with the way she’s laid it out (very simply, so it can hardly be amended by the Labour Party, renegade Conservatives etc.).
However, Hammond feels very strongly about the trade agreement and won’t allow a deal to go through if a trade agreement is not on the cards.
Hammond wanted any “Andrew Marr Show” viewers in the European Union to listen up as he said that if any of them were under the impression that if Britain cannot reach a deal with the EU and “if we don’t continue to work closely together,” then Britain will “simply slink off as a wounded animal,” he wanted those people to know that it is “not going to happen.”
Hammond said that Britain and its people have “a great fighting spirit,” which he says will lead us to “fight back” in the case of a trade deal not being reached.
He says the response to a lack of a trade agreement in the Brexit deal will be to “forge new trade deals around the world” and “build our business globally.” Someone get China on the phone.
‘We will go on from strength to strength’
Another of Hammond’s Brexit promises is that the British economy will remain intact no matter what, EU trade agreement or no EU trade agreement.
He said that even if we have to branch out overseas for our business deals, Britain will “go on from strength to strength” and do whatever it takes to ensure that the British economy remains a “competitive” force of nature in the grand scheme of things.
Speaking of the grand scheme of things, according to the CIA World Factbook, the UK is the fifth-ranked economy in the world, behind just the US (of course the CIA would have you think that), China, Japan, and Germany. Hammond wants us to remain the fifth economy, and not drop below our fierce EU rivals in France and Italy. (By the way, all these uses of the word “remain” are a sly reference to the EU ballot and the option that not enough voters chose to put a cross in.)
The UK also faces stiff competition from India, Brazil, and Canada, but in the EU deal, they are obviously not the main concern. With this focus on trade and economic growth, Hammond assures us “a great and successful future” for Britain.
