While the public still cannot agree on the real reasons behind Brexit – whether it was David Cameron, austerity, or a distrust of politicians – few so far have blamed the Great British Bake Off.
Until now.
Irish comedian Ardal O’Hanlon made the suggestion on Jeremy Vine’s Channel 5 show.
Asked by Vine who was to blame for Brexit, the Father Ted star said the EU could not be blamed for the mess that the country was in, but it might be fair to blame David Cameron for disenfranchisement of politics.
However O’Hanlon believed there was one particular reason for Brexit – the Great British Bake Off.
He said: ‘It’s sort of a bucolic middle England, a nostalgia for a distant, better, safer, more wonderful England.
‘It kinda fostered a type of English nationalism which I think is at the root of this.’
O’Hanlan’s argument was not quite inline with the show, so resorted to claiming that the DUP was mostly to blame for the mess the country was now in.
Vine asked the actor: ‘What because they’ve held out on Northern Ireland…?
‘Yeah,’ he responded in agreement.
O’Hanlon’s father was an Irish politician and once played a role in the Irish government, so has had plenty to say about Brexit.
He previously told RTE that he believed it could cause a hard border in Ireland, which would lead to ‘resentment and tension’ in his home country.
‘You listen to various Tory grandees and Karen Bradley, when she cheerfully confessed she knew nothing about Northern Ireland before she took up the position… that’s disrespectful to appoint someone like that in the first place.’
He continued: ‘You have Jacob Rees-Mogg who said he doesn’t need to visit Northern Ireland to know what’s going on there…
‘Boris Johnson likened the border issue to a gnat, a fly, that can be swotted away. That’s how consequential it is for him in the greater scheme of things.’
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