Arch Brexiteer Lord Lawson applies for French residency

Former chancellor and fervent Brexiteer Lord Lawson has been accused of hypocrisy after applying for French residency as Britain leaves the EU.

The Conservative peer and chairman of the Vote Leave campaign, who lives in Gers, south-west France, told France’s English-language magazine Connexion that he is applying for his carte de séjour, which will guarantee his rights as an EU citizen after Brexit.

Lord Lawson, father of celebrity cook Nigella and journalist Dominic, told the magazine he had no regrets about Brexit despite living in France and that he considered the extra paperwork to be among certain “tiresome rather than serious” impacts which Brexit may have on expats like himself.

Paul Butters, chairman of anti-Brexit campaign group Best for Britain said that Lord Lawson’s announcement “takes the biscuit”. He said: “It seemed to Lawson that no cost was not worth paying to leave. But with this news, it seems the cost will be paid by others while the former chancellor suns himself in his luxury home in France.

“The former chancellor looks like a hypocrite. “Lawson already did his best to ruin Britain for the last generation, and now he wants to do it for the next.’

Connexion said Lord Lawson was “confident Britons in France will be able to continue their lives without significant disruption and that Brexit will benefit the UK as long as future governments make good use of it”.

The announcement comes just weeks after French Interior Ministry officials stressed the importance of Britons in France obtaining a carte de séjour so as to ‘get into the system’ before Brexit.