Reform UK’s Ann Widdecome Jumps Off Air After LBC Host Presses For Brexit ‘Lies’ Apology

LBC host Matthew Wright pressed former Tory MP and Brexit Party member Ann Widdecome to “apologise” for her role in advocating Brexit , asking whether it was time to “apologise” for Brexit in a Sunday confrontation that saw the presenter kick Widdecome off air.

Wright asked whether it was time to take some accountability for the “lies” told to persuade the British public to vote to leave the European Union.

“Is it time to say sorry, Anne?” he asked.

“No,” Widdecome replied. “First of all, it hasn’t been a massive disaster. The only thing I regret about Brexit is that it was never done properly.”

“Ah, the wrong kind of Brexit,” Wright mused.

She continued: “No, let me finish. You’ve just had a very good spiel putting one side. Now just let me put the other. The side that the newspapers don’t put… What I was saying was that we did not do Brexit properly. Not the wrong kind of Brexit, we just didn’t do Brexit properly. For example, there were thousands and thousands, and I do mean thousands, of EU regulations which we could have got rid of over the course of the last four years.”

The host asked: “Could you just tell us which ones were bad? Because a lot of EU regulations are really sensible, so I’m just interested in the thousands and thousands which ones were bad…”

As Widdecome fumbled for an answer, the host pressed on: “So you don’t know which ones are bad? We just throw them all out?”

She replied: “What I was saying to you was that there are thousands of EU regulations… For example, it’s taken us four years to finally ban live exports. We could have done that in the first six months. The fiddling around with visa rules that we see now, other countries which have borders with the EU don’t have those problems. What we have is a determination to make it as difficult for us as possible. And instead of wimping and saying, ‘oh dear, we should give up our sovereignty in order to have a faster visa queue,’ what we should be doing is taking a much stronger stand and saying, ‘right, you make it as difficult as possible, but we’re going ahead.’”

Pushing back, Wright asked: “Can I just ask about the politicians who told us things before the referendum, which have subsequently become patently untrue. So, [Tory MP] Michael Gove said Brexit would be good for the environment, we’ve just legitimised the use of pesticides that kill bees that the EU has banned. [Vote Leave co-founder] Daniel Hannan proposed, promised, promised, Business would have access to the single market if we voted Leave. We didn’t. He then pushed on for the hardest possible Brexit. [Then-Tory mayor of London] Boris Johnson said our fishermen would be supported. They’re £70 million a year worse off. I could go on and on. Should we not have some kind of apology for those lies or mistruths, Anne?”

Replying, Widdecome said: Well, the biggest lies that were told before the referendum were actually told by the Remain campaign, led by the then Prime Minister, Lord [David] Cameron… that if we dared to vote yes, never mind leave, if we actually just voted to leave, there was going to be an immediate austerity budget, there was going to be an immediate rise in unemployment, there was going to be an immediate collapse of British business. It’s all there on the record.”

“Unemployment is going up, Anne,” Wright replied. “Unemployment is up, Anne. Unemployment is up…It also went down when we were in the EU. I mean, you’re just not telling the truth, Anne, are you?”

Throughout, Widdecome tried to cut, calling the hosts name before he finally cut her off. Blasting the call as an example of the “problem with Brexit,” being “gaslit” by its “great advocates.”

“How are we ever, how are we ever going to move on with such intransigence?” he said.