BREXIT BOOZERS
Brexit tycoon storms out of committee hearing with pro-EU MPs – and heads straight to the bar
Arron Banks was giving evidence to the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee today
A MILLIONAIRE Brexit backer today stormed out of a Commons committee hearing where he was grilled by pro-EU MPs - and headed straight to the bar.
In a fiery Q&A in Parliament, Arron Banks claimed he was only being interrogated because the politicians were keen to "discredit" the Brexit referendum.
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Things got so heated the tycoon accused one MP of drunkenly harassing a woman in a House of Commons bar.
Mr Banks, an insurance magnate who’s given £12million to help promote Brexit, was being quizzed over alleged links between his Leave.EU campaign and Vladimir Putin’s regime.
But he said the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee was picking on him because of his political views.
Mr Banks said: “The reason I went into the referendum is because I have a different version of what the future of this country is.
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“I respect your right to disagree, I know that you’re all Remainers, you’ve got a vested interest in trying to discredit the Brexit campaign.
“You haven’t called any witnesses from the Remain campaign to hammer them.”
Chairman Damian Collins replied: “If similar allegations had been made against Britain Stronger in Europe, we would be asking the same questions.”
Mr Banks also clashed with Ian Lucas after the Labour MP questioned him about his insurance business.
The tycoon jokingly said to him: “Are you the MP who got drunk in the House of Commons and then harassed a woman and got drunk on a karaoke evening?”
When Mr Lucas said he wasn’t, Mr Banks replied: “Good, but one of the committee is, I just don’t know which one. What do you want me to do, do we want to sit here and just throw bread rolls at each other?”
And he claimed he had got so much grief for his political links that he wished he’d never got involved, saying: “If I had my time again I probably wouldn’t have done it in the first place.”
At the conclusion of the meeting, Mr Banks and his business partner Andy Wigmore walked out even though the MPs were still asking question - saying they had to go and meet someone for lunch.
He said: “I'm sorry, I don't mean to be rude, but Mr Collins did say it was going to be 20 minutes and we have got places to be I'm afraid.”
Asked if he could stay for five more minutes, Mr Banks replied: “The answer is no.” And Mr Wigmore added: "You can join us if you want - we will be in the House of Commons bar."
The pair were later seen drinking and smoking with two DUP MPs on the terrace of Parliament.
Speaking after the committee hearing, Mr Collins said: “Mr Banks and Mr Wigmore themselves put on the record that they frequently lie, exaggerate, misspeak and misunderstand.
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“So it is difficult for the committee to know if we should take all of their answers seriously when it comes to data sharing and misuse, campaign spending, and their meetings with high ranking Russian officials.”
Mr Banks and Mr Wigmore have been under the spotlight since it emerged they’d met the Russian ambassador in connections with their Brexit campaigning.
The two men insist they were only interested in building diplomatic links and exploring business opportunities.
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