Jacob Rees-Mogg and Tory Brexiteers launch protest over transition period but cry off boat trip after Tory whips get tough, leaving Nigel Farage to get his hands dirty, dumping fish in the river opposite Westminster.
ADVERTISEMENTConservative Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg was whipped out of joining an armada of two boats that staged a fisheries protest at the negotiated Brexit transition period beside parliament. Tory bosses reportedly warned him off the trip, making Rees-Mogg less salty dog and more landlubber.
The protest went on without him though, with a smattering of other Brexit figures and the movement's high priest and former leader of UKip Nigel Farage. Small fishing concerns are angry that the transition period means Britain staying inside the Common Fisheries Policy for up to another 20 months beyond the March 2019 Brexit.
"These are haddocks. My favourite eating fish, lovely fish, stocks are plentiful in the West country. And yet, of the total allocation of haddock around the European Union, guess how much we get? Nine percent. Nine percent, so you can't avoid catching them, so this stuff gets thrown back dead. I mean the whole thing is mad," he claimed
So then naturally, what better way to make your point than to dump some fish in the Thames? Especially bearing in mind that while sitting on the EU's Fisheries Committee he had 42 opportunities to argue Britain's case there, but only appeared once.