"Corbynistas And Brexiteers Are Like Trump Fans"
8 September 2016, 11:29 | Updated: 15 September 2016, 11:56
Nick Clegg told LBC the Brexiteers in the government had no idea what they are doing.
The former Deputy Prime Minister, now free from governmental responsibility, certainly did not mince his words as he spoke to Nick Ferrari.
Comparing the left and right in the UK to Trump supporters in American, Mr Clegg let loose on "the politics of grievance".
He said: "The fervent Corbynistas will hate me saying this - and I can even imagine what the stuff that's going to appear on Twitter as I now say i t- but they have quite a lot in common in some some important respects to the kind of anti-establishment rage that you see among the Trump supporters.
"If you look at what Trump says, or indeed if you actually look out what Farage says, or you look at what the sort of arch Corbynistas say, if you look at what supporters of Podemos say in Spain. If you look at a lot of populist on right and left, they are very angry on the whole.
"And they always want someone to blame. So it's either, you know, string up the bankers or it's the mainstream media or it's even worse - it's Islam or it's the Mexicans or it's Brussels. It's always someone else's fault.
"It's the politics of grievance, it's pointing your finger at them. Nigel says it's all Brussels' fault, the nationalists in Scotland say it's all those snotty-nosed people in London, it's their fault. Trump says it's all the Mexicans."
Mr Clegg, who campaigned strongly to stay in Europe, told LBC that the Brexiteers in the government have no idea what they are doing.
He said: "I think the hardline Brexit folk on the Conservative Party are only a heartbeat away from that kind of angry politics of grievance. Now their great challenge and I'm looking forward to coming on to this show in future to discuss this is - they've won. They're now in charge.
"They were always the insurgents, they were always the rebels. They're now in charge, they are the establishment. They hate to admit this. They're the establishment.
"They have no clue what they're doing and I personally don't think they will have a clue what they're doing because there is some fundamental contradictions in their own position.
"But they're now going to show us that having promised this utopia, having told us all that all our problems are always someone else's fault- and in their their case it was pointing the finger of blame at Brussels in the same way that Trump is telling all his supporters it's all Mexico's fault. He said Build a wall, they say Brexit.
"t's a very similar emotional reflex. As you blame somebody, vilify someone, separate yourself off from someone, all will be well. And that's what all the populace on the right on the left do."
