One day after quitting politics, former U.K. chancellor Philip Hammond had some advice for his ex-colleagues tangling with Brexit – and for Switzerland.

Will Britain be out of the EU one year from now? Yes, ex-Chancellor Philip Hammond told a business audience in Zurich. But nothing about its relationship to the bloc will be any clearer.

Britain shouldn’t box itself in on deciding an extension to its exit plan during a transition period, he noted. «If you listen carefully to politicians within the current government over the last few days, you've heard a range of statements which are not completely coherent with each other,» Hammond said at a conference hosted by «Neue Zuercher Zeitung,» a Swiss daily.

Make No Commitments 

They represent his first public remarks since declaring on Tuesday that he will leave politics after falling out with the current Boris Johnson-led conservative government.

«On this particular question, my advice to my colleagues in government would be to try to be as noncommittal as possible on this issue,» Hammond noted. Britain doesn’t know when the European Union will be ready to negotiate or even to agree a mandate to talk, he noted.

«I would advise my colleagues, by all means, express the clear wish to have this done as quickly as possible and ideally by the end of 2020,» Hammond said. «But this optionality has a value and ruling it out doesn’t really make sense.»

Government Falling Out

On Tuesday, the long-time Tory politician said he wouldn’t stand for parliament. Hammond was one of 21 conservative lawmakers thrown out of the parliamentary party two months ago for their attempts to prevent Britain from leaving the bloc without a deal.


A life-long Tory, 63-year-old Hammond was chancellor in Teresa May’s government and held several roles in her predecessor, David Cameron’s, government, including secretary of defense and foreign affairs.

The impending exit of Britain from the EU means it will face a similar decision to Switzerland, also outside the bloc.

«Once the U.K. has left EU, I think we're going to have to be realistic about the fact that we will not be allowed either by the U.S. or by the rest of Europe to shelter under the collective umbrella of Europe. While at the same time trying to arbitrage ourselves in regulatory terms,» Hammond said.

Agonizing over Finance

Officials on both sides are «agonizing» over whether the U.K. will hew closely to European rules in order to better its chances of maintaining market access, or «drift away» from the regulatory rulebook embodied in the bloc.

Hammond said the U.K. stands the best chances of gaining mutual access to markets if it keeps its financial services rules closely aligned with Europe. «It will be a very, very fine line to tread,» he said.

Extensive Lobbying Operations

Switzerland has reconciled itself to adopting large chinks of EU rules into its own law, and big banks UBS and Credit Suisse maintain extensive lobbying operations in Brussels. The alpine nation’s efforts to clinch a wider framework agreement with the EU on relations has stalled as the block wrangles with Britain over its exit terms.