Nigel Farage has demanded an apology from Remainers after he claimed the Russia report cleared him of charges that he colluded with the Russians to boost the Vote Leave campaign.
https://twitter.com/Nigel_Farage/status/1285519670922170368
The Brexit Party leader went on a small tirade on Twitter demanding ‘Remain politicians’ and ‘much of our media’ apologise for accusations that Russia was involved in the Vote Leave campaign.
‘Years of lies and smears from Remain politicians and much of our media,’ Farage ranted in a post.
‘There is no evidence of Russian involvement with Leave.EU or me in the referendum.
‘It was all a hoax.’
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He went on to demands that ‘some serious apologies are due.’
Former Brexit Party MEP Robert Lowe also ordered Remainers to apologise, tweeting: ‘Wading through Remainer tears. Some serious apologies are due @Nigel_Farage!’
But Remainers were quick to shoot the Brexiteers down over hteir claims they had been exonerated.
David Head said: ‘Come off it. The Russia report is explicit in concluding that no evidence was sought of Russian interference in the Brexit referendum.’
Liberal Democrats politician Alex Hegenbarth backed him: ‘Not holding an investigation doesn’t mean there wasn’t anything to investigate – lack of evidence does not mean evidence of lacking.’
Another campaigner said it was evident the government was ‘actively’ avoiding any investigation, while others said Farage was just being ‘economical with the truth’.
‘I’m not sure you’ve read the same report as everybody else, Farage,’ said @HerbyCumberland. ‘Lack of hard evidence does NOT vindicate you or anybody else. We already knew that specific named persons appear in the unpublished classified annex.
‘You are, as usual, being very economical with the truth.’
The Russia report, published after an 18-month long investigation into Russian meddling in British institutions, found that not enough attention by the UK’s intelligence community and Downing Street was given to uncovering Russian interference in the 2016 Brexit referendum.
The Intelligence and Security Committee, which released conducted the probe, said it would be ‘difficult – if not impossible – to prove’ allegations Russia sought to influence the 2016 Brexit referendum but that ‘the government was slow to recognise the existence of the threat’, particularly after finding evidence of meddling during the 2014 Scottish independence referendum.
They said that when asked, Britain’s domestic spy agency, MI5, only provided them with six lines of text at first concerning Russian involvement in the Brexit vote.
It added: ‘Even if the conclusion of any such assessment were that there was minimal interference, this would nonetheless represent a helpful reassurance to the public that the UK’s democratic processes had remained relatively safe.’