Jacob Rees-Mogg jokes he should be ‘beheaded’ not ‘hung, drawn and quartered’ after wannabe Lib Dem MP is sacked over Brexit rant
JACOB Rees-Mogg joked that he had the right to be beheaded after a wannabe Lib Dem MP was sacked for calling for leading Brexiteers to be “burned at stake”.
In a witty put-down the Commons Leader told Galen Milne to “get his facts straight” because his job as Lord President of the Council entitled him to the “privilege of being beheaded”.
Mr Milne was immediately deselected from standing as the party’s candidate for Banff and Buchan after his violent rant about Boris Johnson and other prominent Brexiteers were revealed by The Sun on Sunday.
Mr Milne, the party’s parliamentary candidate for Banff and Buchan, said: “Johnson, Fox, Gove, Davis, Rees-Mogg should be hung, drawn and quartered, with each quarter being sent to the four corners of the UK to be burned at the stake”.
He also dubbed Conservative MP “Tory rats” who “rear their ugly heads”.
And he advocated splitting the party as the “final solution” – a phrase used by the Nazis about their slaughter of Jews.
Mr Rees-Mogg tweeted in response: “Typical Lib Dem. Mr Milne should get his facts straight.
“As Lord President of the Council, I am entitled to the privilege of being beheaded.”
The title is given to Mr Rees-Mogg as chair of Privy Council meetings with the Queen.
In the Middle Ages the person holding the title exempted them from the brutal punishment of being hung, drawn and quartered for treason.
LIB DEM LEADER EYES NO10
Meanwhile Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson will on Tuesday risk dragging her party into fresh controversy by using her keynote speech to her party's conference in Bournemouth to claim the need to prepare for a No Deal Brexit is "like planning to burn your house down".
She will add: "You might have insurance, but you’re still going to lose all your stuff."
On Monday Ms Swinson ruled out working with either Boris Johnson or Jeremy Corbyn in the event of a hung Parliament after the next election.
She told Sky News: “Neither of those men are fit to be prime minister. I will not vote to make either of those men prime minister.” Instead she insisted she was "standing as a candidate for Prime Minister".
Aides said she is planning to be in No10 by Christmas.
most read in brexit
And new Lib Dem Chuka Umunna said as many as 200 seats were in the party's reach.
Setting the bar very high the ex-Labour MP said: "I would hope that we get more than 40 seats at a general election but we know from the internal polling that if we move from the position that we're in and say there is a one point five per cent to two per cent swing we can get up to 100 seats and if there's a five per cent swing towards the Liberal Democrats through the course of the campaign 200 seats are in contention — but who knows what will happen?
"We are not complacent, we are not drunk on our success, we want to continue to expand the bandwidth, draw people into the party."
- GOT a news story? RING us on 0207 782 4104 or WHATSAPP on 07423720250 or EMAIL [email protected]