Alastair Campbell slammed Nigel Farage on BBC Question Time last night, calling him the “worst winner” and accusing him of not taking responsibility for Brexit.
Farage is a prominent Eurosceptic who championed the movement to leave the EU, while former New Labour spin doctor Campbell is pro-EU and campaigned to Remain.
So it’s no surprise the two clashed when sharing the Question Time panel.
While discussing Keir Starmer’s plan to relaunch his government, Campbell said: “I was disappointed Keir didn’t mention Brexit, because I think Brexit has done so much damage to this country.”
But as soon as he said “Brexit”, Farage – who is now the Reform Party leader and an MP – cut in by saying, “oh dear” repeatedly.
He said: “You are the worst loser in history, Alastair.
“Get over it! It was eight years ago! Move on! It’s done! It’s done!”
But Campbell hit back: “You’re the worst winner, because you’ve never taken responsibility for what you’ve won.”
Farage said the UK was free of the eurozone which is “collapsing”.
The former spin doctor was not finished though, and replied: “I’ll tell you what you are: you’re somebody who will exploit any problem going for your own political ends.
“Brexit was a fundamentally damaging thing to this country, that is your one legacy, and you now don’t want to talk about it because even you know that it has damaged this country. It has made us poorer, it has made us weaker, it has hit our standing in the world.”
That sparked a round of applause in the room.
“This major decision was taken eight years ago,” Farage replied. “It gave us the chance to be significant richer, to control our borders, all those things, and sadly, this mob – the Tories – didn’t do anything.
“Would you rather be like France right now or Germany right now?”
Campbell said: “No I wouldn’t – the comparison is what we would have been in we had stayed in.”
He said estimates suggested the UK’s economy would be 5% larger had we stayed in the EU.
Farage ignored that and said: “We’d have joined the euro if you had your way back 30 years ago.”
“Hang on hang, don’t talk at the same time,” Question Time host Fiona Bruce suddenly cut in.
Farage ignored her, and just said: “The war is over.”
Campbell replied: “I’m sorry about that Nigel, but I think you’ll find young people in this country know that you’ve taken their future away from them and they will get it back.”
Campbell also used his platform to tell the audience that Brexit was about getting the borders under control.
He claimed the UK has now “lost control” – but migration is still very necessary to the country.
He said: “If we follow the demonising rhetoric as Trump and Farage and these guys, it will actually put people off coming here to work.
“Lets be open and honest about the need for migration, let’s get the rules and systems in place, let’s make them work and let’s stop demonising anybody who is not what we consider to be British.”