Brexit day of turmoil
BREXIT backer Arron Banks yesterday laughed off questions from MPs about his links with the Kremlin – before strolling out of the hearing and heading straight to the Commons bar.
The founder of Nigel Farage’s Leave. EU group stood up after a three-hour grilling to say he had a lunch appointment he ‘didn’t want to be late for’.
It came after he accused the Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee of launching a botched attempt ‘to discredit the Brexit campaign’.
The insurance tycoon, who largely funded the unofficial Leave campaign, scoffed at suggestions about his influence, joking: ‘I like to think I’m an evil genius with a white cat who controls all of democracy, but clearly that’s not true.’
Mr Banks admitted to MPs that he led journalists ‘up the garden path’ to get publicity during the 2016 referendum campaign, but insisted he never broke the law or worked with Russians.
At the weekend, it was revealed that the businessman had held three meetings with Russian embassy officials around the time of the referendum.
But Mr Banks said the first meeting with the Russian ambassador was a ‘boozy lunch’ where they got ‘pretty trolleyed’ after drinking ‘about four shots of Stalin vodka, brandy, [and] wine’.
Asked yesterday what he was going to get from the meeting, Mr Banks said: ‘I was hoping for a good lunch. That’s what I did gain from it.’
During the marathon hearing, Mr Banks made repeated quips at the expense of the MPs, who he accused of being embittered Remainers who wanted to overturn the referendum result.
‘Hands up who voted Remain,’ he said, adding: ‘You’ve got a vested interest in trying to discredit the Brexit campaign.’
At one point Mr Banks asked one of his inquisitors: ‘ Are you the MP that got drunk in the House of Commons and harassed a woman and got drunk on a karaoke evening? One of the committee is. I don’t know which one.’
Mr Banks boasted about deliberate mischief-making ahead of the vote. He said: ‘We certainly weren’t afraid of leading journalists up the country path, the same with politicians. I think you have to take a slight pinch of salt because we were running a campaign deliberately aimed at making fun of people, pushing them in a certain direction.’
Andy Wigmore, who was Leave.EU’s communications chief, admitted he had acted as an ‘ agent provocateur’ and sometimes exaggerated the truth, including claims about how they had a team of 20 mathematicians and actuaries working on the campaign.
Mr Wigmore told the committee: ‘There was probably a bit of boastfulness. I’m an agent provocateur – not the underwear. My job is to spin.’ Asked if they created ‘fake news’, Mr Banks hit back: ‘Parliament is the biggest source of fake news in the country. Straight after this hearing you’ll be at lunch with some Guardian journalist quaffing a glass of Chablis and spinning this how you want.’
Assessing the Brexit process, Mr Banks said: ‘When we talk about “We voted to leave the European Union, we must stay in the single market”, it’s almost like a prisoner where the door is open and the prisoner is scared to leave the prison cell. It has been 45 years of institutionalised brainwashing.’
As the hearing dragged into its fourth hour, Mr Banks told the committee he had no more time and stood up with the MPs still attempting to ask him questions.
Committee chairman, Tory MP Damian Collins, urged: ‘Five more minutes.’ But Mr Banks replied: ‘I really do have to insist – you told us a certain time and we have got a lunch appointment we don’t want to be late for.’ Mr Wigmore added: ‘You can join us if you want – we will be in the House of Commons bar.’ Mr Collins continued: ‘Could you just give us five minutes?’ Mr Banks replied: ‘No, I’m sorry but it’s time to go.’