With the 8 June general election looming and his job on the line, Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond has landed himself in hot water as his behind-the-scenes antics have come to light and he’s been falling out with Prime Minister Theresa May meaning his job is hanging in the balance.
Hammond dismisses the allegations against him as ‘tittle-tattle’
When asked about his alleged angry, curse-filled rants and arguments with May’s aides regarding tax policy, which made the front page of the Times when they came about last week, Hammond shrugged them off three times as being “”tittle-tattle” by the media.
When you have to deny something three times whilst tugging on your collar like a nervous cartoon character, perhaps there is in fact some truth to what you’re denying.
“I don’t recognise any of this stuff,” said Hammond. Ah, “don’t recognise,” the classic British government term used to play an accusation or a controversy without lying and saying definitively that it isn’t true. Hammond went on to explain that he works “extremely closely with Theresa” (first name terms) and her aides. Good plan, Phil, just say what can’t be denied as the truth.
The interviewer said that Hammond’s claim, “I’m not going to say I’ve never occasionally sworn,” suggested that there was “a bit of truth” to the allegations, but then Hammond said yet again that these stories were “tittle-tattle.” One source claims that “there was a lot of swearing and angry phone calls” from Hammond to May’s aides.