A member of the Question Time audience last night blamed the BBC and the Governor of the Bank of England for “weakening our bargaining position” in Brexit negotiations.
Disregarding the people actually in charge of making a deal when Britain leaves the EU, the woman also accused Mark Carney and the broadcaster of “deprecating our nation”.
“Should Mark Carney and the BBC admit Brexit will happen and get behind Britain instead of deprecating our nation and weakening our bargaining position?”
Former SNP leader, Alex Salmond, took issue with the audience member’s question, saying: “I disagree with the question - what weakened our negotiating stance was to invoke Article 50 and go into time-limited negotiation where we couldn’t afford to have ‘no deal’ and as soon as we did that we placed every single card in the hand of the other 27 EU countries.
“I think we could have the Angel Gabriel negotiating for us and we wouldn’t get a good deal.”
Salmond’s view is backed up by comments made this week by Britain’s former EU ambassador, Sir Ivan Rogers, who warned Theresa May the UK would be “screwed” in the Brexit negotiations if she triggered Article 50 too early - but did it anyway.
Earlier this week Jacob Rees-Mogg who appeared on the panel on last night’s show, called Carney “the enemy of Brexit” and also accused the BBC of “always wanting to blame things on Brexit”.
On Question Time last night, he added: “Why I have criticised [Carney] and continue to do so is that he made the Bank’s views of Brexit clear in a way that he never does in a General Election.
“That seemed to me to politicise the Bank of England and besmirch its reputation.”
Rees-Mogg appears to have forgotten the Brexit referendum wasn’t a party-political issue and the Bank of England’s job is to forecast the effects of major events in its role as overseer on UK monetary policy.
On the BBC, Rees-Mogg accused the BBC of constantly using the phrase “despite Brexit” in its coverage.
Host David Dimbleby took issue with the accusation but perhaps the Tory MP had a point..
Elsewhere on the show a young chap in the audience came up with possibly the greatest Brexit theory ever.