"Get ready for serious business," says May
Over the weekend, a series of comments allegedly made by Finance Minister Phillip Hammond in regards to public sector employees being in his opinion, “overpaid” were leaked to the media.
Today, Theresa May has urged her cabinet ministers to display "strength and unity" and that there was to be neither "backbiting" nor "carping" amongst the members of her cabinet.
This however is seemingly more difficult to fix than just a dressing down. The Conservative party has been unable to find a shared vision on how to proceed with the impending issue of Brexit, even as second round of talks commenced yesterday between British and EU negotiators.
Hammond, who has been an advocate of maintaining the strongest possible relationship with the EU is in the same party as Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, who two weeks ago was quoted as saying the EU can "go whistle" when asked about the EU’s expectations that Britain should be held to previous financial commitments on already agreed upon projects.
That came as the party as a whole were, at least publicly, seeming to come to terms with that fact and were more willing to accept the position in order to move on.
While May reiterated the need for her ministers to "take their responsibilities seriously" and stated that the government would be capable of making, "better decisions if colleagues were able to hold open discussions" the Prime Minister herself has come under fire recently for her own decision-making.
Most notably, the decision to call an unnecessary snap election that cost the party not just a parliamentary majority, but also a great deal of credibility for the leader herself.
She advised members of the party to "Go away, have a proper summer break and come back ready for serious business" and although the deadline for a concrete Brexit game plan is not until March 29th, 2019 – the negotiations must be wrapped up long beforehand to make sure any and all legislative actions can be completed before finalisation. Serious business indeed.