Theresa May: There is no such thing as an unsackable minister

Prime Minister Theresa May has warned her warring Cabinet ministers that none of them are "unsackable".

The Prime Minister has been forced to lay down the law with her top team after a series of briefings designed to damage Chancellor Philip Hammond.

Mrs May has been told she will have the backing of senior backbenchers to get rid of any ministers who are found to be plotting against her.

MP Charles Walker, a vice chairman of the 1922 committee, has told Sky News the plotters should "zip it", or else the party will "skip a generation" when it comes to picking Mrs May's successor.

Speaking as Parliament prepared to break up for the summer, the PM told LBC Radio: "There is no such thing as an unsackable minister, but at the moment the team is together and we are getting on with the job of delivering what we need to do."

Pressed by presenter Iain Dale over whether any minister was unsackable, she replied: "No."

Mrs May was asked whether the willingness of her ministers to leak what was said around the Cabinet table showed her authority was shot after her General Election gamble backfired.

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."

Mrs May continued: "(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."

She said her message at Cabinet on Tuesday - when she warned ministers they need to show "strength and unity" - 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."

Mrs 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."

In a wide-ranging interview, Mrs May also revealed:

:: She can "completely understand" people's concerns about the Democratic Unionist Party's attitude to gay rights. The PM relies on support from the Northern Irish party to prop up her minority government.
:: She believes the Church of England "will want to reflect" on whether to let the clergy bless gay marriages.
:: And as MPs prepare to go off on their holidays for the summer, she will be heading for a walking holiday in the Alps.

The conversation inevitably turned to Brexit, with the PM insisting Britain's negotiating position in exit talks "as good as it was" before the election.

The latest round of negotiations are taking place in Brussels, and insiders close to the talks have said EU staff have been surprised at how prepared the UK side is on the detail of the issues.

On the so-called "divorce bill", negotiators are said to be frustrated at the inability of the EU to set out in detail what it thinks Britain's legal obligations are, while Brussels officials want the UK to give more clarity about what it thinks is necessary to settle the accounts.

Meanwhile, it has been claimed that the UK has made clear to the EU that it has the right to send radioactive waste back to Europe after Brexit.

The right of the UK to return process radioactive waste to its country of origin was highlighted in the Government's position paper on nuclear materials and safeguarding issues.

The Financial Times reports that negotiators hope that by raising questions over what happens to the nuclear waste, some of which originates from EU countries, it will spur the EU on to be co-operative on finding a solution on regulation.