WHO DOES HE THINK HE IS?

Anger as head of economic think-tank likens Brexit to the Blitz

A THINK-TANK funded by British taxpayers sparked fury yesterday by claiming Brexit would wreak similar damage to the Blitz.

In an extraordinary intervention, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) also suggested reversing Brexit would boost the economy.

Secretary-General Angel Gurria said leaving the EU was so disastrous it would require the UK to revive the Blitz spirit, which saw Britain emerge unbowed from a Nazi bombing campaign that killed 43,000 and destroyed more than a million homes.

Misquoting Sir Winston Churchill, he said: ‘What was that thing that Churchill said? Stay calm and carry on. This is as valid now as it was then in the Blitz. Except we have fortunately not the Blitz.’

Mr Gurria added that reversing Brexit – through a change of government or a second referendum – would have a ‘significant’ and ‘positive’ impact on the economy.

Incredibly, his comments came at a Treasury event hosted by Chancellor Philip Hammond – underlining the cosy relationship between the OECD and the Treasury.

His comments sparked an angry backlash last night, with critics pointing out the OECD had repeatedly got it wrong.

The organisation previously said Britain should join the euro, and last year it was forced to admit it had been wrong to claim a Brexit vote would spark an immediate economic shock.

Downing Street flatly rejected the comparison to the Blitz, pointing out it was not even borne out by the OECD’s report, which states that the UK economy will continue to grow even if Britain leaves the EU without a trade deal.

A spokesman for the PM said there would not be a second referendum.

Iain Duncan Smith said it was time for the OECD to ‘shove off and stop lecturing people’.

The former Tory leader described the think-tank’s warnings as ‘completely bogus’ and added: ‘The OECD was one of the organisations that said the UK would crash and burn if the British people dared to vote to leave the EU – they were part of Project Fear, and this is an extension of it. This time it’s aimed at pushing the UK into accepting any deal from the EU at any price.

‘It is time for the OECD to admit they were wrong about Brexit and stop trying to bully the British people.’

Fellow Tory MP Andrew Bridgen said it was time to ‘review’ the £10 million a year the Government gives to the OECD.

He said its support for a second referendum amounted to ‘trying to interfere in a sovereign democratic decision’. Former

‘Shove off and stop lecturing people’