So insulting! Irish PM ‘sorry’ war heroes have to go through Brexit

IRELAND’S prime minister was accused of insulting British war heroes last night after suggesting he felt sorry they had to experience Brexit.

Leo Varadkar said veterans would be embarrassed by the split as they had ‘fought on the beaches of France’ to defend ‘European democracy and European values’.

The intervention was met with outrage in Britain, as politicians said the Taoiseach ‘had no right’ to pontificate on what the UK’s role in the war meant for Brexit.

Mr Varadkar’s comments also clash with promises by Theresa May to offer the UK’s ‘unconditional’ support to European defence.

The Irish premier, who turns 39 today, made the remarks in a speech to MEPs in Strasbourg yesterday, during which he described how ‘so much will be lost’ in the divorce.

‘Young people will lose the right to live work and study anywhere in the EU,’ he said. ‘I think that’s a real shame.

‘British businesses could lose their access to the biggest market in the world.

‘Farmers, food producers and even the beer makers that you and I are so fond of, could lose the subsidies that they benefit from, which are not guaranteed.

‘I’m conscious of British veterans – very brave people who fought on the beaches of France, not just for Britain but also for European democracy and European values. People like that are always in my mind.’

Brexiteer Iain DuncanSmith led criticism of Mr Varadkar’s linking of historic events to Brexit.

‘I don’t think he has any right to talk about what British people did during the war,’ the former Tory leader said. Criticised: Leo Varadkar ‘And I don’t think it is OK at any stage to assume what people who fought in the war would have done in the Brexit vote, particularly as Ireland was aggressively neutral in the last war.’

Tory MP James Gray, who served in the Territorial Army for seven years, added: ‘I just think it’s wrong. He is talking a lot of rubbish, isn’t he?

‘I have met a great many veterans of the Second World War in my time and I’ve never met one who thought they were fighting for the European Union … The EU wasn’t even a twinkle in anyone’s eye … If that is what the Prime Minister of the Republic of Ireland thinks then he doesn’t know what he is talking about.’

Eurosceptic Jacob ReesMogg said: ‘Mr Varadkar forgets that Ireland was neutral during the war which implies it had no interest in Europe.

‘Perhaps if Mr Varadkar knew his own country’s undistin-

‘Talking a lot of rubbish’

guished wartime history better his views on our history would be more informed.’

Ex-Ukip leader Nigel Farage said: ‘Mr Varadkar ought to understand that British veterans fought for independence, democracy and the freedom of nation states.’

The Irish premier warned the Prime Minister about ‘backsliding’ on commitments concerning the Northern Irish border with the Republic of Ireland. He said the initial deal secured by Theresa May to prevent the return of a hard border must be ‘firmly embedded’ in a legal agreement.

Mr Varadkar also rejected unsubstantiated claims, by Mr Farage, that he supported attempts by Tony Blair and Nick Clegg to secure a second Brexit referendum. He said: ‘I’m a friend of the United Kingdom … any decision on the second referendum must only be one for the UK parliament and the UK people.’

JEAN- Claude Juncker yesterday said he was prepared to help the UK re-join the EU.

Describing the split as a ‘catastrophe’, the European Commission president said: ‘The British people, the British Government, may wish to find a different way out of the Brexit situation …

‘We would very much like them to stay and if they so wish, we would very much like them to do so.’

The PM’s spokesman said: ‘We have been absolutely clear on a number of occasions that we are leaving the EU.’