A farmer in the north-eastern town of Bishop Auckland has won plaudits for an impassioned speech live on air in which he claims the UK “woke up as Little Britain” the morning after the EU referendum.
Speaking to a BBC reporter who appeared slightly taken aback by the lengthy monologue, the man said most of his fellow farmers who voted to leave the EU “have actually sold up or cut back”.
He added: “It’s like a turkey voting for Christmas, isn’t it?”
On a roll and uninterrupted, he added:
“It’s the epitome of what the human race can do, it’s the faith that we might be better outside the EU and there’s no solid basis for it – I’ve yet to see anybody put a solid argument up for leaving Europe.
“We’re far better working together as a common community than we are split up. On the night of the referendum we went to bed as Great Britain and we woke up as Little Britain and that’s a tragedy.
“And all the things they put forward, none of them are as good as staying in Europe – all the alternatives they out forward, none of them are [better].
“You’ve got to trade with your local neighbours.
“Donald Trump is wishing to take over the health service. Boris Johnson will go to negotiate with Donald as a little boy, pat him on the head. Boris Johnson has stuffed the DUP. He went over here, gave empty promises and the day after he sold them [out].
“It’s the Irish problem, he can’t sort it. He set about this, he promised £350m, he knew that was a lie. He lied to the British public and he’s perpetrating this lie now.
“He should be sent to jail.”
Replies to the tweet, which has so far got more than 7,000 likes, were overwhelmingly positive.
It comes as the People’s Vote group announced it would support more than 100 candidates in the General Election in a bid to topple the Tories, PA Media reports.
Dominic Grieve, Chuka Umunna and Rosie Duffield head the list that will receive financial and campaign support to its “PV100″ list of candidates, chosen in key seats in hope of engineering a Conservative defeat and forcing a second Brexit referendum.
“These seats are the PV100 – the seats that will decide the election,” People’s Vote said in a statement.
“It’s especially important that our supporters vote tactically here to secure a final say referendum. If they don’t, Boris Johnson will win this election and we will leave with his deal.”
While the list in fact comprises 112 candidates in key seats, one omission is Anna Soubry, who is fighting to hold Broxtowe for Change UK after winning it for the Tories with a majority of just 863 votes at the last election.