Britain Has a New Chancellor of the Exchequer

Philip Hammond

Incoming United Kingdom Prime Minister Theresa May has named Philip Hammond as the UK's new finance minister,

This is a total insider establishment pick.

He was named transport secretary when the Conservatives took power in coalition with the centrist Liberal Democrats in 2010. In 2011, he moved over to take charge of defense.

In July 2014, he became Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs.

Hammond described the United Nations findings regarding the detention of Julian Assange in the Ecuadorian embassy in London "ridiculous."

In October 2015, Justice Secretary Michael Gove cancelled a £5.9 million contract to provide services for prisons in the Saudi Arabia, saying "the British government should not be assisting a regime that uses beheadings, stoning, crucifixions and lashings as forms of punishment." Foreign Secretary Hammond accused Gove of "naivety."

He campaigned for Britain to stay in the EU.

Bottom line, Hammond is a complete establishment tool and boring on top of that.

British broadcasters have referred to him as "Box Office Phil" because he rarely makes headlines.

It is doubtful he knows anything about finance. Expect him to keep his head down and take orders from the backroom boys.

-RW