Kate Hoey criticised after sharing fake quote about the EU

Kate Hoey, the Labour Brexiteer and erstwhile minister for sport, has been criticised for sharing a fake quote about the European Union on Twitter.

The post, attributed to Jean Monnet, reads as follows:

Europe's nations should be guided towards a super state without their people understanding what is happening.

This can be accomplished by successive steps each disguised as having an economic purpose, but which will eventually and irreversibly lead to federation.

The quote was never said by Monnet, who passed away in March, 1979. The quote is actually from the lecturer and author Adrian Hilton, who even got in touch with Hoey to tell her that it came from his book 'The Principality and Power of Europe.'

Just for a little background, Monnet was a French political economist and diplomat widely regarded as one of the founding fathers of the European Union.

It appears the quotation is entirely apocryphal but apparently the fact that it’s the kind of thing he *would* have said is being used as a justification for the regurgitation of fake news.

The responses to Hoey’s tweet, naturally, ranged from the sublime to the ridiculous.

Indy100 has contacted Kate Hoey for comment.

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