Philip Hammond ‘dismayed’ by Tory shift to ‘populism’

Lord Philip Hammond said he has been “dismayed” by the “populist turn” the Conservatives took.

The former Chancellor told CityAM while he thought the party was now “heading in the right direction” he had been “dismayed by the populist turn” the Tories took.

During an interview about his role as chair of crypto firm Copper Technologies, a post he took up earlier this year, Hammond praised the leadership of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. 

He said: “I have been dismayed by the populist turn my party took for a while. 

“I think we’re back, heading in the right direction now, under the current leadership away from populism to taking tough decisions and planning for the longer term which is absolutely what the country needs.”

And he insisted the party retained his support, adding: “I am a Conservative, I will vote Conservative at the next election.” 

Hammond said Brexit, Covid the cost of living crisis and the war in Ukraine had been a spell of “significant trauma” and “destabilising” which the UK was now emerging from.

“What we need now is to get back on track with a clear narrative of where Britain’s future lies and how we’re going to earn our living in the future,” he added.

He called the “turmoil” of ex-Prime Minister Liz Truss’s calamitous mini-budget which spooked markets and sent the pound tumbling “deeply unhelpful” but said the “scarring is minimal”.

“I don’t think what happened then has had any lasting impact on the UK,” he said.

But Hammond accepted that since 2016, the UK’s stable reputation had been “undermined”, calling it “problematic” but “not fatal”.

Asked if UK plc’s image as a solid place to do business was “permanently scuppered”, he said: “Very few things are permanent in politics but it’s certainly been dented, no doubt.”

Hammond also told CityAM he was disappointed by the cancellation of the HS2 railway Birmingham to Manchester leg but said he was “confident” it would one day be completed.

“I’m pretty confident that we will see that project completed,” he said. “The really important decision is to terminate at Euston rather than Old Oak Common. As long as the Euston leg is built it will always be possible to add on a Manchester leg, a Leeds leg, in the future.

“I think once we’ve got the railway up and running people will quickly see how valuable that it will be for the economy.”

And Hammond pledged the UK was still “one of the best places in the world to do business”.