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David Lammy: comparing the ERG to the Nazis isn’t strong enough

As tensions in Westminster continue to grow over Brexit, it’s become commonplace for politicians to use language that would have been unheard of in the past. Yet, even in these febrile times, the Labour politician David Lammy managed to go a step further earlier this month when he compared the ERG faction of the Tories to the Nazi party, during a speech at a People’s Vote rally.

But if anyone was hoping that the MP had toned down his language since his last intervention, they would have been disappointed by his remarkable appearance on Andrew Marr this morning. When Marr showed the Labour politician a clip of his recent speech,  and asked if this was acceptable language to use, Lammy doubled down, saying:

‘Andrew, I would say that wasn’t strong enough.’

He went on to compare his own stance against the ERG to Churchill’s campaign against the British policy of appeasement against Hitler and said that the BBC was complicit in allowing ‘this extreme hard-right fascism to flourish.’

Challenged about whether this was a fair criticism of British elected representatives, Lammy responded that:

‘I don’t care how elected they were, so was the far right in Germany’

The Labour MP also managed to have a pop at the general public. When asked by Marr if the public might be outraged by his claim that the likes of Boris Johnson and Jacob Rees-Mogg were comparable to Nazis, Lammy retorted that:

‘I think they’ll be in a minority if they have any sense’

Watch here:

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Steerpike is The Spectator's gossip columnist, serving up the latest tittle tattle from Westminster and beyond. Email tips to steerpike@spectator.co.uk or message @MrSteerpike

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