Andrew Neil gets roasted for suggesting no 'establishment' institutions backed Brexit

There’s an old proverb that goes something like: “If people stopped arguing about Brexit online, does it still exist, or make a sound?”

Well, not really. But we wouldn’t know the answer anyway because, over two years since the UK voted to leave the European Union, people are more riled up about it than ever. There’s arguments about how it’s going and even more about why it happened.

BBC Broadcaster Andrew Neil found himself on the receiving end of a classic internet roasting when he took to Twitter to ask his followers if any “establishment” institutions supported Brexit. Outside his duties with the BBC, Neil is currently chairman of Press Holdings Media Group, which publishes The Spectator, a weekly political magazine founded in 1828 that supported Brexit prior to the 2016 vote.

Neil’s point was quickly challenged when Twitter users, including comedy writer James Felton and actor Hugh Grant, pointed out several establishment media institutions supported a leave vote.

Jess Phillips, on the other hand, took issue with the concept of the "establishment".

Neil then amended his suggestion to include the word “non-media”.

But this only poured more fuel on the fire...

It's not often we see Neil, one of the toughest interviewers in broadcasting, on the back foot. But this roasting was so thorough that perhaps he should be served with gravy and cranberry sauce on Christmas Day.

More: The Mash Report offered Carole Cadwalldr a chance to respond to Andrew Neil's criticisms and it was epic