James O'Brien: The Russians Influenced Brexit And No One Cares

14 November 2017, 12:39 | Updated: 14 November 2017, 14:13

People would rather have their Islamophobia encouraged, what does it matter if a foreign government is meddling in our politics? James O'Brien asked.

Theresa May has accused Russia of "meddling" in elections and spreading fake news, to try to "sow discord in the West."

In a speech at the Lord Mayor's Banquet last night, the Prime Minister also said Moscow had hacked the Danish Ministry of Defence and the German parliament.

James O'Brien welcomed the Prime Minister's unexpected intervention still thought it was too little too late, that it's "not going to change anything."

He asked listeners to remember the chorus of real, human voices saying they intended to vote leave to stop Muslims coming to the country, citing Germany's acceptance of one million refugees.

But the only circumstance in which a refugee could leave Germany as a German citizen is after staying there for seven years.

James wondered how that belief became so ingrained in many people's thinking, considering it could be tens of thousands of Kremlin-backed Twitter accounts or simply "racist liars" peddling misinformation.

He said: "The Russians influenced Brexit, people don't care. People would rather have their Islamophobia indulged and inflamed by the kind of tweets that we see on a regular basis, than have their national security enshrined and ensured."

Watch the clip at the top of this page.