The European Parliament’s chief Brexit negotiator has been ridiculed for claiming that Winston Churchill would have voted to stay in the EU.
Liberal MEP Guy Verhofstadt made his remarks during a debate in the European parliament on the future of the EU.
Verhofstadt, a former prime minister of Belgium, said: “The Eurosceptics in this house can twist and turn the words from the British Bulldog [Churchill] all they want. It is a fact that they have professionally squandered Winston Churchill’s legacy.”
Verhofstadt – who has previously claimed Churchill would have “deeply regretted” Brexit – quoted the wartime leader’s famous speech, made at the University of Zurich in 1946, suggesting it was an example of Churchill’s pro-EU outlook.
He said: “It all started with a historical speech by Winston Churchill at the University of Zurich in 1946. A year later, in ’47 in Albert Hall in London [sic], Churchill, the British bulldog, made it very clear what he wanted.”
Pro-Brexit Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg called Verhofstadt a “euroloon”. He told The Sun: “As the devil can quote scripture so a Euroloon can quote Churchill. Verhofstadt carelessly conflates Europe and the EU. There is no evidence that Churchill would support the current sclerotic bureaucracy while speculating on the political views of the dead is a fool’s errand.”
And an aide to British foreign secretary Boris Johnson – who recently wrote a biography of Churchill – added: “Britain needs no lectures on one of history’s greatest leaders. Britain has spoken and we are leaving the EU and it’s time to stop moaning about it”.
