Nigel Farage has called Andy Burnham “a liar” after the prime minister said he had been told Russia interfered in the 2016 Brexit referendum.
During a press conference in Dover on Monday morning, the Reform UK leader was asked whether Burnham’s claim tainted the referendum result, and how he felt about having “potentially benefited from possible Russian interference”.
Farage responded: “The prime minister is a liar. Yes, a liar.”
Farage said that when Boris Johnson was appointed as foreign secretary in July 2016, he asked whether there had been Russian interference in the referendum campaign “and the answer was no”.
He also pointed to the comments delivered by Stephen Doughty, a Foreign Office minister, who addressed the issue on Monday morning.
Doughty told Sky News that the security minister, Dan Jarvis, had been “very clear” that Russia had attempted to interfere in the Brexit referendum, but “they haven’t succeeded”.
Those comments were issued after Burnham told The Rest Is Politics podcast that, on arriving in Downing Street this summer, he asked whether Russia had interfered in the referendum. “I’ve had the clear answer that yes, there was”, he said.
Doughty said Burnham had been making the broader point that Russia had tried to interfere in “a series of democratic events in this country and indeed across Europe”.
Russian attempts to interfere in Brexit vote failed, Foreign Office minister says
Speaking in Dover, Farage said that Burnham’s comments on The Rest Is Politics podcast were “outrageous.”
He said: “There was no Russian interference, and the Russia hoax has run all the way through this.”
Farage described Burnham as “out of touch, out of date” and with “all sorts of bizarre ideas”. Mocking Burnham’s vow to forge closer relations with the EU, Farage he suggested the prime minister might be “looking forward to sitting down with Marine Le Pen, or the AFD”.
He also hit out at Burnham’s claim that Brexit has done “more harm than good.”
Farage said: “I don’t think our growth figures are anything to write home about, but I tell you what, they’re a damn sight better than France and Germany and Italy.”
The Reform leader added: “Is there more inconvenience for people… doing business? There is, but when you have borders to protect your country, there is some level of inconvenience. Showing a passport, filling in a form, whatever it may be.
“And here’s the tragedy: that whilst we’ve got some mild inconveniences… the one thing the British public expected hasn’t been delivered. And we’re the people with the guts and the courage to take it on, to face down the abuse and get the job done.”
