On Tuesday morning, the Prime Minister Theresa May made her overtures to Europe. Britain wanted to be, she declared “the best friend and neighbour to our European partners”.
But on the other side of the world, her Foreign secretary was stirring up trouble. Boris Johnson, on a trade mission to India, said of the French President:
“If Mr Hollande wants to administer punishment beatings to anybody who seeks to escape [the EU], in the manner of some World War Two movie, I don’t think that is the way forward, and it’s not in the interests of our friends and partners.”
His comments were widely condemned, with EU Brexit negotiator Guy Verhofstadt calling them “abhorrent”.
David Davis, the Brexit secretary, then piled in with the declaration: “If we can cope with World War Two, we can cope with this.”
But this isn’t the first time the Brexiteers seemed to be under the impression they are part of a historical re-enactment society. Here are some of the others:
1. When Michael Gove compared economist to Nazis
During the EU referendum campaign, when economic organisation after economic organisation predicted a dire financial hangover from Brexit, the arch-Leaver Tory MP is best known for his retort that people “have had enough of experts”.
But Gove also compared economic experts to the Nazi scientists who denounced Albert Einstein in the 1930s, adding “they got 100 German scientists in the pay of the government to say he was wrong”.
(For the record, the major forecasts came from a mixture of private companies, internationally-based organisations, and charities, as well as the Treasury).
Gove later apologised for his “clumsy” historical analogy. But perhaps his new chum, Donald Trump, took note. In a recent tweet attacking the US intelligence agencies, he demanded: “Are we living in Nazi Germany?”
2. When Leave supporters channelled Basil Fawlty
Drivers in Oxfordshire had their journey interrupted by billboards declaring: “Halt Ze German Advance! Vote Leave”.
‘Stop Ze German advance’ xenophobia on M40 from overenthusiastic Outers. unauthorised, by “dummies” say @vote_leave pic.twitter.com/xNKQkyLEec
— Sunder Katwala (@sundersays) May 29, 2016
The posters used the same logo as the Vote Leave campaign – although as the outcry spread Vote Leave denied it had anything to do with it. Back in the 1970s, all-Germans-are-Nazi views were already so tired that Fawlty Towers made a whole episode mocking them.
Which is just as well, because the idea of the Nazis achieving their evil empire through tedious regulatory standards directives and co-operation with French socialists is a bunch of bendy bananas.
3. When Boris Johnson said the EU shared aims with Hitler
Saying that, Boris Johnson (him again) still thinks there’s a comparison to be had.
In May, Johnson told the Telegraph that while Brussels bureaucrats are using “different methods” to Hitler, they both aim to create a European superstate with Germany at its heart.
Hitler wanted to unite the German-speaking peoples, invade Eastern Europe and enslave its people, and murder the European Jews. He embraced violence and a totalitarian society.
The European Union was designed to prevent another World War, protect the rights of minorities and smaller nations, and embrace the tedium of day-long meetings about standardised mortgage fact sheets.
Also, as this uncanny Johnson lookalike declared in the Telegraph in 2013, Germany is “wunderbar” and there is “nothing to fear”.
4. When this Ukip candidate quoted Mein Kampf
In 2015, Kim Rose, a Ukip candidate in Southampton, decided to prove his point that the EU was a monstrosity by quoting from a well-known book.
The author recommended that “the best way to take control” over a people was to erode it “by a thousand tine and almost imperceptible reductions”.
Oh, and the book was Mein Kampf, Hitler’s erratic, rambling, anti-Semitic pre-internet conspiracy theory. As Rose explained: “My dad’s mother was Jewish. Hitler was evil, I’m just saying the EU is evil as well.”
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