Boris: EU wants a superstate, just like Hitler
BORIS Johnson electrified the EU referendum debate yesterday by comparing Brussels’ superstate ambitions to those of Adolf Hitler.
The pro-Leave Conservative declared that Britons could again be European “heroes” by voting on June 23 for “common sense” Brexit.
He triggered a storm of protest from his Remain opponents by naming Hitler in his comparison of the EU’s pursuit of a unified continent, who had sought control under a single authority.
“Napoleon, Hitler, various people tried this out and it ends tragically,” said the former London mayor.
“The EU is an attempt to do this by different methods,” he added, stressing that he was not comparing the 28-nation bloc to Nazis.
Mr Johnson, who is on a high-profile Vote Leave tour of the UK, said people had tried over the past 2,000 years to unify Europe but its citizens had no underlying loyalty to the idea of Europe.
He said the crunch poll was a chance to build on the British people’s record of standing up for “moderation and common sense” and being “the heroes of Europe” by stopping the project getting out of control.
Mr Johnson’s remarks were later backed by pro-Leave colleagues. Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg told ITV’s Peston On Sunday: “What Boris was saying is absolutely true.
“Philip II of Spain, Louis XIV of France, Napoleon and Hitler all wanted to create a single European power.
“What Boris has said is the EU is following the footsteps of these historic figures but using different means. Now all of those tried to do it by force and the EU is trying to do it by stealth.”
MP and former Cabinet minister Iain Duncan Smith told BBC One’s Sunday Politics that Mr Johnson had just stated “a historical fact of life”.
“If you go through Napoleon, Hitler, everybody else... The whole process of trying to drive Europe together by force or by bureaucracy ultimately makes problems.
“All he is doing is talking about the trend towards the idea of this kind of concept of some kind of greater Europe, that’s all.”
Former Tory chancellor Lord Lamont told Sky News’s Murnaghan that it was true that there had been “fascist theorists” who believed in a united Europe. He added: “I don’t think Boris Johnson was saying people who favour the EU were comparable to Nazis.
“He was simply saying that histori-
cally there have been all sorts of attempts to dominate Europe and these have all floundered because Europe is not naturally one entity.”
But leading Remain campaigners slammed Mr Johnson’s remarks. Former Labour minister Yvette Cooper said: “He should not try to play political games with the darkest and most sinister chapter of Europe’s history.
“The EU has played a critical role keeping peace in Europe ever since.”
Former Army chief Field Marshal Lord Bramall, who took part in the D-Day landings, said Mr Johnson’s comments were “simply laughable”.
He added: “I know only too well, this comparison of the EU and Nazi Germany is absurd. Hitler’s main aim was to create an empire in the East and violently subjugate Europeans.”
Ukip leader Nigel Farage yesterday backed Mr Johnson to succeed David Cameron in No10 if Britain votes for Brexit.
Mr Farage dubbed himself a “Boris fan” and suggested he could imagine working for him in government.
The Ukip leader said he had become convinced that Mr Johnson was serious enough to be prime minister and compared those who dismissed him to detractors who had believed film actor Ronnie Reagan could not be a successful US president.
Change
Despite Mr Cameron claiming that he will stay as prime minister even if he loses the vote, Mr Farage insisted there would have to be a new PM.
“The first thing that will change is that we will get a prime minister who actually wants us to leave the European Union and we will go into that negotiation looking for a positive outcome,” he told Peston On Sunday.
“My fear is that we vote to leave, Mr Cameron stays in place and the British people don’t get what they have actually voted for.”
Mr Cameron has said he intends to step down as Tory leader before the 2020 election.
He was yesterday said to believe that a Brexit supporter was likely to succeed him, regardless of the referendum outcome.
He reportedly sees Mr Johnson as best placed to win a leadership contest if it happens before 2019 – despite George Osborne’s long-held ambitions for the job.