Leave.EU co-founder Richard Tice is threatening to sue leading anti-Brexit activist Femi Oluwole for calling the pro-Brexit campaign ‘anti-Jewish’ in a tweet.
Oluwolue had quote-tweeted a 2018 tweet from Leave.EU, which he called “anti-Jewish”.
The Leave.EU tweet he accuses of anti-Semitism depicts Jewish Hungarian investor George Soros manipulating Tony Blair like a puppet, with the comment: “The face of the People’s Vote campaign.”
Tice, who left Leave.EU in 2016, since became chairman of the Brexit Party. The party has confirmed that Tice has sent Oluwole a legal letter alleging defamation.
Oluwole broke the news on his Twitter account with a short explanatory video. “He’s hired a big old law firm to basically destroy me,” he said.
MEP Richard Tice, Chair of the Brexit Party said he's suing me, because I called him out for the antisemitism of the group he made.
— Femi (@Femi_Sorry) July 23, 2019
I don't want money (other than https://t.co/BcRbHJjCYR to stop Brexit). I want you to see these people for the entitled political tyrants they are. pic.twitter.com/rWGj1KGQ0j
He added that he never said Tice himself was anti-Semitic.
Richard Tice co-founded Leave.EU in 2015, and left two years before the tweet Oluwole called anti-Jewish.
The Brexit Party confirmed the legal challenge and did not offer a comment when approached by The New European.