Hunt condemned over Soviet jibe

European politicians and diplomats have turned their fire on Jeremy Hunt, after the Foreign Secretary compared the EU to the Soviet Union.

In his speech to the Conservative conference, Mr Hunt accused the EU of seeking to punish the UK to stop its citizens leaving. The comment was denounced as “unworthy of a British foreign secretary” by the former head of the UK’S diplomatic service, Lord Ricketts, while his successor, Sir Simon Fraser, described it as a “shocking failure of judgment”.

German Europe minister Michael Roth told the Foreign Secretary: “Sorry, Jeremy Hunt, the EU is no prison”.

And a European Commission spokesman said: “I would say, respectfully, that we would all benefit, and in particular foreign affairs ministers, from opening a history book from time to time.”

The Lithuanian EU Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis tweeted at Mr Hunt: “I was born in Soviet gulag and been imprisoned by KGB a few times in my life. Happy to brief you on the main differences between #EU and Soviet Union. And also why we escaped the USSR. Anytime. Whatever helps.”

Latvia’s ambassador to the UK said the EU had brought her country “prosperity, equality, growth, respect” after decades of communist rule. And Estonia’s ambassador in London, Tiina Intelmann, described Mr Hunt’s comments as “insulting” to those who lived under Soviet domination.

Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab kept up the harsh rhetoric on Monday. “Some people say that no deal is unthinkable – wrong,” Mr Raab said in his speech. “What is unthinkable is that this government, or any British government, could be bullied, by the threat of some kind of economic embargo, into signing a onesided deal against our country’s interests.”