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Theresa May says 'there is no such thing as an unsackable minister' Theresa May says 'there is no such thing as an unsackable minister'
(35 minutes later)
The prime minister has said “there is no such thing as an unsackable minister” as she defended her government’s record, adding that her team was together at the moment. Theresa May has warned cabinet colleagues that no minister is “unsackable” in her most direct criticism yet of leaks from the cabinet room.
In an interview with LBC radio’s Iain Dale, Theresa May also said the government’s Brexit negotiating position was “as good as it was before the election”. The prime minister said the current team of cabinet ministers was safe “for the moment” but that she was prepared to sack persistent leakers. Her comments came after members of the backbench Conservative 1922 Committee told the prime minister she had their backing to sack loose-lipped ministers.
May was challenged in the interview over whether the willingness of ministers to leak details from cabinet meetings was an indication of her weakened authority following last month’s botched election campaign. “There’s no such thing as an unsackable minister,” May told LBC’s Iain Dale. “But at the moment the team is together and we are getting on with the job of delivering what we believe the British people want us to do.”
She replied: “I have to say, I think if you look back over the years you will find that this has sadly not been the only instance when people say things out of cabinet. It shouldn’t happen and it is important that we accept collective responsibility.” May denied the briefing over the weekend was linked to her diminished authority following the party’s poor election result. Leaks over the weekend included several ministers criticising the chancellor, Philip Hammond, for cabinet room comments on public sector pay as well as stories attacking the Brexit secretary, David Davis, and the foreign secretary, Boris Johnson.
May said: “(For) all of us in government, it is a huge privilege, but it also brings a responsibility and part of that responsibility is about doing the job we have to do. We have important policies to deliver for the public. There are some big issues we have got to deal with – Brexit, of course, being one of them.” “I have to say, if you look back over the years, this is not the first time this has happened. It shouldn’t happen. It’s not for ourselves – we’ve got a job to do delivering for the public,” she said.
She said her message was that “we need to ensure that we can get on with that work that we need to do to deliver for people and ... that means the government being together.” May confirmed she had admonished ministers at Tuesday’s cabinet meeting. “The flavour of it was that being in government is a huge privilege, but it also brings responsibility and part of that is about doing the job we need to do,” she said.
May added: “We have a very simple approach in this country that things said at these cabinet meetings shouldn’t be reported publicly in that way, and people should accept collective responsibility. When decisions are taken, they are government decisions.” “It’s a very simple approach in this country that things said at those cabinet meetings should not be reported publicly in that way and people should accept collective responsibility because when those decisions are taken they are government decisions.”
May reportedly planned to sack some senior ministers, including Hammond, had she won a large majority in June, but her reshuffle after voters returned a hung parliament was distinctly uneventful, with most key ministers remaining in post.
In the interview, May also hinted she believed the Church of England should reconsider its approach to gay marriage. The interview came before a reception in Downing Street with LGBT activists to mark Pride.
“This has to be a matter for the church. The Church of England has itself come a distance in terms of looking at these issues,” she said. “And obviously they will want to reflect as attitudes more generally change, as society changes.”
May said her father, a Cof E vicar, valued affirming loving relationships though it was “difficult to say” whether he would have approved of blessings for gay couples in churches.
“As an individual, he very much valued the importance of relationships, of people affirming those relationships and the stability of those relationships and people able to be together with people that they love,” she said.
On Tuesday John Bercow, the Commons Speaker, told a Pink News reception that it was timethe C of E allowed churches to perform gay marriage ceremonies.
“There’s always a balance to be struck – we don’t want to ‎behave as though it’s all over, that everything has been done … because that isn’t true. I still feel that we can only really have equal marriage when you can bloody well get married in a church if you want to do so,” he said.
May said she empathised that LGBT people might be worried by the Conservatives’ supply-and-confidence deal with the DUP, given statements made by some of their MPs against homosexuality. “I can completely understand why people who are concerned about some of the attitudes that the DUP … some of the policies that the DUP promote, why they are concerned about this,” she said, but described the deal as something that “happens in politics”.
During May’s interview, Dale also asked the prime minister about her summer walking holiday in the Swiss Alps. “Some people will be grateful I’m going to the Alps and not to Wales,” she joked, in reference to her spring walking holiday, during which she decided to call the snap general election on 8 June.