15:37

Jacob Rees-Mogg has appeared at an event in parliament arranged by the Brexit-focused thinktank Open Europe, and it’s fair to say the backbench figurehead of the arch-leavers is not mellowing. He argued that the UK “should ratchet up the pressure” on the EU in talks by threatening to not pay the £42bn divorce bill and point out the effect on the Irish economy of no trade deal:

If we were to apply the common external tariff on Irish beef, the Irish agricultural industry is in serious trouble. You’ve got to ask the EU: does it want to sacrifice the economy of Ireland on the altar of EU ideology? I my guess is that the answer is no, and therefore we are in a very strong negotiating position.

In perhaps the most curious part, Rees-Mogg argued that giving away any fishing rights to achieve a better overall deal would be “socialist”, and argued that the terrible treatment of the Windrush community was also came from socialism:



I do not believe that the interests of the collective allow you to crush individuals who may get in your way. I believe that we are a nation built on the individual, so that the rights of each individual are a valuable and important thing, to be protected by the government ... I will draw a parallel with the Windrush issue. The Windrush issue came about because the state put the interests of the collective ahead of those individuals who had come here perfectly legally prior to 1973, and that it was more convenient for the Home Office to make them prove who they were and show their papers. This is socialism.

The most interesting exchange came in questions from a non-UK journalist – from her accent she sounded German – who asked Rees-Mogg why he hoped to “blackmail” his way to a deal, and what he saw as the UK’s compromises.



To her clear astonishment, Rees-Mogg argued the UK’s compromise was the £42bn payment, and to “carry on buying German cars”.

