Vince Cable claims Theresa May's Tory conference speech 'could have been taken from Mein Kampf'
2 min read
Vince Cable has claimed that a section of Theresa May's speech to last year's Conservative conference "could have been taken from Mein Kampf".
The would-be Lib Dem leader took aim at the Prime Minister over her claim that "if you believe you're a citizen of the world, you're a citizen of nowhere".
She used the phrase while lambasting company bosses she claimed were acting like an "international elite" and ignoring the needs of British workers.
"Too many people in positions of power behave as though they have more in common with international elites than with the people down the road, the people they employ, the people they pass in the street," she said.
"But if you believe you’re a citizen of the world, you’re a citizen of nowhere. You don’t understand what the very word ‘citizenship’ means."
In an interview with the New Statesman, Dr Cable said his former Cabinet colleague had used words reminiscent of Hitler's autobiographical book of 1925, in which he set out his political beliefs.
“I thought that particular phrase was quite evil. It could’ve been taken out of Mein Kampf,” he said “I think that’s where it came from, wasn’t it? ‘Rootless cosmopolitans’? It was out of character for her.”
However, the phrase 'rootless cosmopolitans' actually first appeared in the Soviet newspaper Pravda during an anti-Semitic campaign in the latter years of Stalin's regime.
Dr Cable is in line to succeed Tim Farron as Liberal Democrat leader, with no other MPs so far putting their hat in the ring.
KEN LIVINGSTONE
Mims Davies, the Tory MP for Eastleigh, said Dr Cable should retract his comments.
"It is disappointing and surprising that such an experienced politician, who wants to lead the Liberal Democrats, chooses to throw around Nazi slurs like Ken Livingstone.
"Vince Cable should reconsider and retract this ill-judged comment."
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