STEPHEN POLLARD: Shame on you, David Lammy

As a 54-year-old Jew, when hear the word 'Nazi', I listen. I pay close attention because, like every other Jew, I know the meaning of the word and its special resonance.

If the Nazis had not been defeated, I wouldn't be here. I would never have been born because, had Adolf Hitler successfully invaded Britain and won the war, my parents — both born in London — would have joined the millions of Jews murdered by the Nazis.

So I have a message for David Lammy, the Labour MP who at the weekend likened members of the hard-Brexit European Research Group (ERG) of Conservative MPs to the Nazis.

David Lammy's statement at the weekend likening members of the hard-Brexit European Research Group to the Nazis exposes him as an ignorant, hate-mongering fool

David Lammy's statement at the weekend likening members of the hard-Brexit European Research Group to the Nazis exposes him as an ignorant, hate-mongering fool

It's a message that comes from my heart: How dare you?

How dare you compare people with whom you disagree on Brexit with the men and women who committed genocide — who planned in meticulous detail the most efficient mechanism for murdering an entire people?

You ignorant, hate-mongering fool...

Mr Lammy's words are so shockingly inappropriate that they seem even worse the more one thinks about them.

Last month, Mr Lammy attended an anti-Brexit rally at which he said: 'I'm just looking over there at Winston Churchill. On the 30th of September, 1938, he stood up in Parliament and he said we would not appease Hitler.

'I'm looking across to Nelson Mandela who would not give in to apartheid. We say we will not give in to the ERG. We will not appease!'

Jacob Rees-Mogg is one of the most destructive forces in modern British politics. Everything he touches fails. But it is unfair to liken him to a Nazi

Jacob Rees-Mogg is one of the most destructive forces in modern British politics. Everything he touches fails. But it is unfair to liken him to a Nazi

On the Andrew Marr Show on BBC One on Sunday, Mr Marr said to Mr Lammy: 'By implication you're comparing the ERG to the Nazi Party — or at least to South African racists. That was an unacceptable comparison, wasn't it?'

Instead of apologising for his remarks, Mr Lammy said: 'I would say that wasn't strong enough.'

In other words, the ERG — all of whom are elected Conservative MPs — are worse than the Nazis who invaded most of Europe and sought to subjugate the world.

Doubling down, Mr Lammy said: 'In 1938, there were allies who hatched a plan for Hitler to annex part of Czechoslovakia, and Churchill said: 'No.' And he stood alone.' Mr Lammy repeated: 'We must not appease.'

Thus, by opposing Brexit, Mr Lammy appeared to be comparing himself to Churchill. The implication was clear: anyone who does not share Mr Lammy's view that hard Brexiteers are Nazis is therefore an appeaser of Nazis.

As it happens, I'm a Brexiteer. But I regard the ERG as deluded fools. I consider Jacob Rees-Mogg, the chairman of the ERG, to be one of the most destructive forces in modern British politics.

Everything he touches fails, whether it was the farcical vote of no confidence in Mrs May that he orchestrated at the end of last year, or his bone-headed stance against Mrs May's Withdrawal Agreement — which he then reversed when he realised, far too late, that he was endangering Brexit itself.

And I viewed with horror Mr Rees-Mogg's decision last month to post on Twitter a video of a speech made by the co-leader of the German far-Right party Alternative für Deutschland (Alternative for Germany). No mainstream British politician should have anything to do

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