‘You idiot!’ Moment Tory MEP faces chorus of abuse for claiming Hitler ‘was a socialist’ ‘I think this really was an awful thing to say, it is unworthy of the European Parliament,’

A Tory MEP faced a cacophony of jeering and was branded an ‘idiot’ by colleagues in the European Parliament for claiming Adolf Hitler was a ‘socialist’ who followed a ‘left-wing ideology.’

Conservative MEP Syed Kamall provoked a furious response from MEP’s during a debate in Strasbourg as he replied to the president of the Socialists grouping Udo Bullmann who had claimed “right-wing nationalism” was “trying to undermine the European Union”.

Mr Kamall said: “Mr Bullmann, I would remind you when you talk about right-wing populists we have to remember that Nazi’s were national socialists.

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“It is a strain of socialism. Let’s not pretend… it is a left-wing ideology, they want the same things as you, let’s be quite clear.”

As uproar rippled around the hemicycle, the Tory MEP looked baffled at the response saying: “You don’t like the truth do you? Come on, it is national socialism”.

One MEP could be heard shouting ‘rubbish’ while European Commissioner Frans Timmermans branded Kamal an ‘idiot.’

‘Awful thing to say’

Mr Bullmann, who is president of the Socialist and Democrats grouping in the parliament, told the MEP that while Hitler’s Nazi party was a ‘National Socialist’ party, its ideology was in fact ‘fascist.’

Bullman, who is a member of the left-wing German Social Democrats, told the Tory MEP that: “It was the German Social Democrats who stood against Hitler’s group in the German parliament.”

He also reminded Kamal of the “hundreds of thousands of Social Democrats, upstanding people, who then fell victim to Nazi terror, because they defended human rights and democracy.”

“I think this really was an awful thing to say, it is unworthy of the European Parliament.”

Hitler used the term ‘national socialist’ to try and steal support from the socialist parties of the day. While it adopted some notionally socialist principles around nationalisation of industry, its overarching belief in a racial hierarchy, overseas expansion and the consolidation of capital, makes the connection between the two ideologies, beyond the name, highly tenuous.

Syed Kamal has subsequently apologised for his comments.