BBC presenter attracts complaints after calling Brexiteers ‘headbangers, zealots and quislings’

Responding to a message by the former Tory prime minister, which slammed the decision to cut Britain’s foreign aid spend to 0.5% of GDP, Perkins wrote: “I deeply regret your decision to hold a referendum on the settled question of Europe to appease headbangers, zealots and quislings.”

This prompted an immediate reaction from anti-EU and anti-BBC campaigners.

Rebecca Ryan, the campaign director for Defund BBC, said: “Sue deeply regrets giving British people – or as she likes to call them ‘headbangers and zealots’ – a say in whether or not the UK should be subsumed into a federal EU. Pesky democracy.”

Political commentator Calvin Robinson also responded, and wrote: “Do you genuinely believe the majority of the voting British public are headbangers, zealots and quislings?

“Is that really how you see your fellow Brits? That’s disappointing, Sue.”

Perkins responded, clarifying that she was “referring to the ERG and co…” – a reference to the group of Eurosceptic MPs who campaigned for a Brexit vote. 

Rallying around the presenter, @twangit16 wrote: “To those that think Brexit is a win for the country, come back next year and tell me it’s been a success. I’ll wait.”

@QMolly posted: “Agree. Unnecessary and costly in so many ways!”

Sophie Moulton added: “Couldn’t have said it better myself!”

Christopher Linfoot followed up with: “This. A million times. This.”

@ad_apd quipped: “If I had had the words this is exactly what I would have said.”

Perkins even responded to someone who called her snobby, writing: “Yeah. I’m pretty snobby about the ERG and what they’ve done.”