'It’s Just a Hope They Would Be Able to Pause Brexit and Stop It' – Commentator

British MP’s have called on the Brexit process to be paused amid an investigation into the funds spent by the leave campaign. The Electoral Commission has said that Aaron Banks’s company was not the source of the funding for the £8 million Leave campaign.

However, Banks has rejected all allegations of wrongdoing and stated that the probe was motivated by political considerations.

Sputnik has discussed the issue with Katie Hopkins, a journalist and political commentator based in the UK.

Sputnik: What do you make of the timing of these allegations? I suppose they're not really surprising in the line of what's been happening over the last months.

Katie Hopkins: You're completely right. I mean it's not surprising. I am a massive Brexiteer, just to call my cards early, and I think this is just another in a relentless kind of campaign by Remainers. And these really are the hardcore Remainers, the ones who refuse to accept the vote. Even kind of average Remainers are saying they're now sick of this, but it's just another desperate ploy.

I think people were very much hoping that this idea of persecuting Aaron Banks for this £8 million that they say comes from peculiar sources, allegedly, is just a hope that they would be able to pause Brexit and to stop it happening. But I think that we're really reaching a point where it is going to happen; and actually, when you look at the statistics and some of the stuff behind it, Remain spent a great deal more on trying to win and they still haven't got over the fact that they lost.

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Sputnik: It's almost as though these strong Remainers are going to be taken and rushed into the British Sea as Brexit gets concluded; there's a saying in England, they just won't let it lie and they're not wanting to let it lie, are they?

Katie Hopkins: No, they won't. Actually, I went into a huge gathering of Remainers in London just last weekend, the people's vote as they've called it, which is ironic of course as we already voted. I had to put a disguise on; I was dressed as a full Remainer so that I didn't get lynched by the mob. When you listen to them, the way they talk, you can tell that they were so overjoyed to be amongst people who thought the same as them.

And our mayor, London's mayor Sadiq Khan got up on the stage and he even had the nerve to talk about the will people. I do have the numbers here which I think is helpful — the EU referendum campaign spending. Leave, the total spent was 1.9 million, and Remain [spent] 2.9 million. So, I think that even if they want to make this argument about Aaron and where this 8 million came from, overall Remain spent far more. In fact, the government spent £9 million putting in leaflets through our letterbox telling us that they would do whatever we told them to do. Clearly, that's not quite been the case yet.

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Sputnik: Is it likely that it can actually realistically be poised at this stage? Even the government, in terms of their intransigence and the malaise that's in the government's Cabinet at the moment, they keep pushing forward. Mrs. May keeps coming out with these statements although her Chequers Plan is not being accepted as plausible; it's still moving forward, isn't it? It looks as though it is going to happen, but there are huge obstacles and nonsense to overcome, but I think that it is going to be delivered. Is that what your feeling is?

Katie Hopkins: That's exactly that. I almost see it like when you see those jets, like the Red Arrows flying overhead; I feel it's a bit like that — we're on the ground looking up, and these jets are going to come past. Brexit is going to happen; it is moving forward, you can see it moving forward. But at all times, the Left and the Right, the Leave and Remain, are veering off wildly in different directions.

Staunch Leavers like myself are hoping that Theresa May presents the deal, that deal is rejected and we can go with a no-deal Brexit which would be absolutely brilliant — we don't have to pay £39 billion to leave and basically we get to do what the hell we wanted, which is exactly what I voted for.

Of course, on the other side of the fence, Remain are hoping to the last moment, even if they have to throw themselves under the Brexit bus with the NHS money on it, that they can prevent it; but I think that you're right. I think the trajectory and the momentum are that this will get over the line and goodness knows only what state Britain will be when we finally limp over the line at the end of March 2019.

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Sputnik: How likely is the investigation to actually be launched with regard to this and how justified are the accusations against Banks, or is it just rhetoric do you belive?

Katie Hopkins: I think it is rhetoric. The National Crime Agency will want to have a certain level of certainty of prosecution and that prosecution being successful. In order to move forward with this case, my view is that they will look into it and find nothing.

I think that one of the things that is actually impertinent about this is that if you were going to pick on anybody, Aaron Banks is exactly the kind of man to go against because he has no respect for the politicians that are questioning him; he has very little tolerance of this bureaucratic malaise, and he has exactly the right attitude which is "I'm glad they are investigating me, I welcome their investigation and they will find nothing."

In a way, we do have a real champion from a Leave perspective, that's a real champion at the heart of this, he's such a supporter. Not many people are willing to give away their own money for their political beliefs rightly or wrongly. And I think that's a slightly great thing that we have him and I believe that the investigation will find nothing.

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However, that will not be the end of it; of course, it will merely be the trigger for something new from Remain. They will find another reason; I am not sure what it will be, but there will be another reason why voters like myself didn't know what we were voting for, we're all a bunch of idiots, and why we should be forced to stay in the EU. But I do believe Brexit will happen and I have my fingers crossed for a no-deal Brexit. I think that would be the ultimate outcome for real Brexiteers like myself.

Views and opinions, expressed in the article are those of Katie Hopkins and do not necessarily reflect those of Sputnik