Chancellor blames briefings against him on hard Brexiteers: “Noise is generated by people not happy with agenda I’ve tried to advance” #marr pic.twitter.com/9vEQU1OX3G

— The Andrew Marr Show (@MarrShow) July 16, 2017

On Marr Phil Hammond claimed the briefing against him in the weekend papers is coming from Brexiteers: “people who are not happy with the agenda that I have tried to advance of ensuring that we achieve a Brexit which is focused of protecting our economy”. Andrew Marr replied “I think you can guess” who that means. This might fit the narrative of Hammond, the BBC and excitable Twitter Remainers, but it isn’t true…

Tim Shipman, the Sunday Times pol ed who received today’s anti-Hammond briefing, has shot down the theory:

“Some will see this as a plot by Brexiteers to undermine the leading remainer in the cabinet. All I can say is that the majority of my sources are not Brexiteers. Others will see a plot by Hammond’s leadership rivals to kill off his chances. Again, my sourcing doesn’t stack that up.”

A Brexiteer plot against Hammond carried out by Remainers? That’s a new one…