British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is facing calls to remove Jacob Rees-Mogg, his key ally, from office after the latter lambasted George Soros over pocketing $1 billion from speculations on the British pound.
Rees-Mogg got embroiled in a heated row in parliament this week when Labour MP Valerie Vaz claimed that hedge fund manager Crispin Odey – a leading Brexit donor and supporter of no-deal – had made a fortune of £220 million on the night of the 2016 referendum result when the pound collapsed due to a "Leave" victory.
The leader of the House of Commons, also a prominent Brexiteer, hit back by criticising hedge fund manager George Soros. Soros famously made a fortune when he bet against the pound on Black Wednesday, the day Britain withdrew its currency from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism.
"One of the major funders, allegedly, of the Remain campaign, the Remoaner funder-in-chief, was one George Soros, who made £1 billion when the sterling crashed out of the Exchange Rate Mechanism, which is five times as much as Mr Odey is said to have made," Rees-Mogg said in response to Valerie Vaz.
"So I fear all she is saying is that Mr Soros is a better hedge fund manager than my good friend Crispin Odey, who is a great friend of mine and, indeed, a supporter of mine."
Jeremy Corbyn has never come out with a single antisemitic trope or slur. Not one.
— RD Hale 🌹 #VoteLabour (@SkyeCitySeries) October 3, 2019
Jacob Rees-Mogg comes out with the AS trope that George Soros is a sinister international puppet-master behind the remain campaign. Where is the outrage? pic.twitter.com/Ry1Jyn4iFM
Soros – controversially known for his support of left-wing causes across the globe was forced out of Hungary for championing immigration into his home country and has pledged at least £500,000 to efforts to stop Brexit; believing that Britain's divorce with the EU will prove to be "immensely damaging" to both sides.
The 89-year-old billionaire was born in Hungary into a Jewish family and survived the Holocaust during the Nazi occupation, and while Rees-Mogg did not mention his roots, he quickly came under fire for alleged anti-Semitism.
Labour peer Alf Dubs, a Jew who escaped the Nazis on the UK-organised Kindertransport in 1939, said Rees-Mogg's comments copied "the far-right's anti-Semitic playbook".
"Boris Johnson must condemn his remarks about a Holocaust survivor and remove him from his cabinet," Lord Dubs said in a statement.
"Like George Soros, I fled Nazi persecution, and like me, George Soros campaigns for European countries to give sanctuary to refugees today, just as I was given refuge as a child in 1939. Boris Johnson and his government don't want vulnerable people who they see as being different to them coming to our country."
The UK-based Jewish Labour Movement accused Jacob Rees-Mogg of playing "straight into the far-right's antisemitic rhetoric of a shadowy Jewish conspiracy to meddle in politics", while Labour MP David Lammy claimed he was pandering to "anti-Semitic conspiracy theorists with this thinly-veiled dog whistle".
George Soros "funder in chief" wink“ “wink” “nudge” “nudge” @Jacob_Rees_Mogg don’t think we can’t hear you feeding anti-semetic conspiracy theorists with this thinly-veiled dog whistle. https://t.co/VQH8ylmyBz pic.twitter.com/KIy7GfTWAQ
— David Lammy (@DavidLammy) October 3, 2019
Rees-Mogg and Boris Johnson have yet to comment.
