James O’Brien explains how Brexit has ‘blindfolded’ the Tories amid the Paterson scandal

LBC Radio host James O’Brien has gone viral for his explanation of how the Brexit slogan that Boris Johnson used throughout the 2019 general election has essentially ‘blindfolded’ the Tories.

In the seven-minute clip from Friday’s edition of his talk radio show, which has now been viewed more than two million times on Twitter alone, O’Brien, a fierce anti-Brexit commentator, examines the almighty backlash that the government has received following this week’s Owen Paterson scandal.

“’Get Brexit done’ was a blindfold. It was earmuffs. It was an invitation to ignore the evidence of your eyes and ears,” begins O’Brien. “But when Brexit gets done, you take the blindfold off, you take the earmuffs off, and it takes you a little while to reacclimatise.”

The veteran radio host then moves onto Paterson, who lobbied ministers on behalf of two companies in exchange for £100,000-per-year, and Andrea Leadsom, who motioned an amendment to avoid Paterson from being suspended for 30 days which the government voted through on Wednesday before u-turning on Thursday morning.

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“And then along comes Andrea Leadsom and Owen Paterson like a Jack and Jill of political incompetence, one of whom has behaved in an appalling fashion and refused to admit it or acknowledge it, and one of whom is prepared to introduce an amendment to the House of Commons, not only to let him off the hook but also to rip up the entire rulebook put in place to combat corruption.

“And they’ve fallen under the spell of the ‘Get Brexit Done’ slogan as well. Whether consciously or unconsciously, they think they can get away with murder, metaphorically speaking.”

O’Brien adds: “Owen Paterson taking half a million quid off a couple of companies that he then lobbied the government for, that didn’t ‘Get Brexit Done’.

“That’s got nothing to do with Brexit. Suddenly, like the sun coming over the horizon after a dark and dismal night, you understand why they’re bringing Brexit back into it.”

This comes as the government have resumed ramping up their rhetoric towards the European Union with Keir Starmer accusing Boris Johnson on Sunday of returning to Brexit in the hope of distracting the public away from the Paterson scandal.

Business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng even used Brexit as an example of Boris Johnson “promoting and upholding the principles of standards in public life.”

“Brexit was the blindfold. Brexit was the earmuffs. Brexit was the thing you could say and then the public would go ‘Oh, OK, carry on,’” added O’Brien.

O’Brien analysis of the Paterson situation has now been widely shared on Twitter, with many people feeling that he has hit the nail on the head.