Boris Johnson defends EU-Hitler comparison blaming media for ‘hysteria’
Boris compared EU to a badly designed pair of pants - 'dangerously loose in some places'
BORIS Johnson today defended his comments comparing the EU to Hitler - accusing his enemies of stitching him up in a fake row.
Visiting a clothes factory in Derbyshire, the Vote Leave frontman said: “I think it’s very important that we should continue to point out that the EU is fundamentally undemocratic and getting less and less democratic.”
Boris told staff at David Napier textiles: “Of course the EU is a peaceful organisation, and everybody understands that, but it is operating by stealth to take away the power from the people - above all our right to decide who runs this country.”
Earlier in the day he said: "In the last 2,000 years people have made all sorts of attempts to unify Europe by force.
“The EU is a very different project but one that is profoundly undemocratic."
Blaming Twitter users and the media, Boris dismissed the row as "hysteria" and said the referendum is "bedevilled" with "media twists and twitstorms".
After stitching a giant flag and ironing a Vote Leave branded sheet, Boris gave a speech to around 100 seamstresses, telling them: “Walking around this wonderful factory, looking at the EU now, it makes me think of some badly designed undergarment.
“That has now become too tight in some places, far too tight and restrictive, and dangerously loose in other places.”
He added: “I say to all those that prophesied doom and gloom, I say their pants are on fire!
“Knickers to the pessimists, let's say knickers to all those who talk Britain down!”
The former Mayor of London had received a torrent of criticism for invoking Hitler and an-EU article over the weekend.
Mr Johnson - seen as the de facto leader of the Leave campaign - said the past 2,000 years had been dominated by doomed attempts to unify the continent under a single government to recreate the "golden age" of the Romans.
"Napoleon, Hitler, various people tried this out, and it ends tragically. The EU is an attempt to do this by different methods," he said in an interview with The Sunday Telegraph.
Chancellor George Osborne endorsed the view of former military chief Field Marshal Lord Bramall, who described Mr Johnson's remarks as "simply laughable" and "absurd".
Speaking with the Chancellor on Monday morning, former Labour MP ED Balls added" "It's clearly attention seeking. He is trying to detract attention from the big issues.
“And from my point of view it shows a massive lack of judgment."
Hitting back, Boris said: "I welcome a lively discussion - we all have a right to speak out."