Mr Johnson is currently dealing with the deadly coronavirus pandemic sweeping across and beyond the UK. As he leads the nation through the crisis – in what some commentators have dubbed his “Churchill moment” – the Prime Minister is attempting to unify the country during this time of great hardship. Mr Johnson already tackled the divisive Brexit crisis when he entered Downing Street in the summer.

He successfully led the UK out of the EU at the end of January, despite opposition from within his own party from figures such as Mr Hammond.

Mr Hammond led the exodus of cabinet ministers just before Mr Johnson took on Theresa May’s role as Prime Minister back in July in opposition to a no deal Brexit.

For months afterwards, he continued to openly pull apart Mr Johnson’s Brexit strategy.

Yet, speaking to BBC Radio 4’s programme, ‘What does Boris Johnson really think?’ in February, Mr Hammond showed he had experienced a slight change of heart.

BBC journalist Nick Robinson even described Mr Hammond as sounding “almost like a Johnson cheerleader” during their interview.

The former Chancellor said: “We clashed on one issue and one issue only really which was Brexit.

“On almost all other policy areas we’ve always agreed.

“I always saw Boris as a big tent centrist, conservative politician.”

However, it was only back in the Autumn that Mr Hammond was regularly slating Mr Johnson’s cabinet.

On September 3, he and 20 other rebel Tory MPs voted against his Government, and went on to block Mr Johnson’s no deal Brexit plan.

Writing in The Times, Mr Hammond said: “Boris Johnson asserts, ever more boldly, that we will leave the EU on October 31, ‘with or without a deal’.

“But […] he is backed by speculators who have bet billions on a hard Brexit – and there is only one outcome that works for them: a crash-out no deal Brexit that sends the currency tumbling and inflation soaring.”

Mr Johnson subsequently withdrew the whip from all 21 rebels and promised to block their selection as Conservative candidates in the next election.

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Mr Hammond responded by claiming the party “had been taken over by unelected advisors and usurpers”.

He then decided not to stand as an MP in the December general election last year.

Yet, Mr Hammond was keen to show his support for Mr Johnson once he had secured his astonishing landslide victory.

He tweeted: “A great result for Boris Johnson and for the Conservative Party.

“The Prime Minister now has the moral and political authority to do what’s right for Britain: to deliver a Brexit that guarantees a close economic partnership with the EU, and protects British jobs and businesses.”

This U-turn, echoed in the interview with Mr Robinson, reveals that Mr Hammond’s main concern is the economy.

As the former Chancellor told the BBC back in February: “What I think we have to be very careful about doing is getting ourselves into a world where projects with very low economic returns are being prioritised.

“Because what that means is for a given number of pounds to invest, you get less bang for your buck.”

However it is not Brexit that presents largest threat to the UK economy now, but coronavirus.

Mr Johnson has acknowledged that the pandemic will affect the economy, but he promised only this week that it will come “roaring back”.

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