Tory Jacob Rees-Mogg is under fire today for sharing a speech given by the leader of a hard-right German political party on Twitter.
The staunch Brexit-backer tweeted an address given by Alternative fur Deutschland’s Dr Alice Weidel, who hit out at Brussels over their handling of Britain’s departure from the EU.
The AfD was founded as a populist Eurosceptic party but won seats in the Bundestag for the first time in 2017 after switching focus to an anti-immigration and anti-Islam agenda and is now the main opposition.
Anna Soubry MP, who quit the Conservative party to help launch The Independent Group, said: “The actions of Conservative politicians like Rees-Mogg only achieve further division and drive the Tory party to the right wing extremes of British politics.”
She also criticised former Tory colleagues for giving speeches at a pro-Brexit rally on Friday outside Westminster.
Mr Rees-Mogg tweeted “The AfD leader asks ‘is it any wonder the British see bad faith behind every manoeuvre from Brussels?’ alongside a link to Dr Weidel’s speech.
Labour MP David Lammy highlighted the Tweet, commenting: “Jacob Rees-Mogg promoting Germany’s overtly racist party, AfD.”
Today Mr Rees-Mogg told Nick Ferrari on LBC Radio that he was not supporting the AfD but it was “a German view” of Brexit that was important to consider.
He said: “I think it’s important people know that this is a strand of German political thinking.
“I don’t think retweeting is an endorsement of things that other people stand for, it’s just pointing out there’s something interesting that is worth watching.”
