UK PM: Russia Interfered in Brexit Vote
Was Brexit swayed by a Kremlin operation or are Remainers blaming Moscow for a fair defeat?
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Above: A placard during The National Rejoin March in central London, on Sept. 23, 2023. Image credit: Loredana Sangiuliano/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images
The Facts
- U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham said in podcast excerpts released Sunday that Russia interfered in Britain's 2016 vote to leave the European Union, adding that when he took charge in July, he asked advisers about Moscow's role.
- On The Rest Is Politics podcast Burnham said he received "the clear answer that yes, there was" interference, and said Britain had been "too much on the back foot" in informing voters about efforts to disrupt its politics from overseas.
- Burnham also said he discussed the Alternative for Germany (AfD) political party with Chancellor Friedrich Merz during a recent visit to Berlin, recalling that Merz described the AfD as "clearly linked to Russia, funded I believe." The full podcast is due to be released Monday.
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The Spin
Left narrative
Pretending Brexit was a pure expression of the British will ignores the obvious: a hostile state with every motive to fracture Europe got precisely the result it wanted. Years of stonewalling, honors handed to Kremlin-linked donors and flat refusals to probe point to a cover-up. Only a proper inquiry can deliver the full truth voters deserve.
Right narrative
Losing a referendum fair and square is no excuse for blaming the Kremlin nearly a decade later. Inquiry after inquiry has turned up no meaningful proof of Russian bots' role, and a scattering of tweets is hardly a conspiracy. Oligarch money sloshing through British politics is a genuine scandal, but pinning Brexit on Moscow only cheapens that case.
