Boris Johnson mauled on BBC Question time in Paul Mason's epic anti-Tory rant

Boris Johnson mauled on BBC Question time in Paul Mason's epic anti-Tory rant

• 07:38, 20 May 2016
• Updated 08:28, 20 May 2016
• By Mikey Smith

Free of the shackles of 'impartiality', the ex-Newsnight economics editor said the MP was "tussling his hair and grinning"

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Broadcaster Paul Mason tore into Boris Johnson, in an epic rant about the ex-Mayor's 'debasement' of the debate around the EU referendum.
The ex-Newsnight economics editor, sure to become a darling of Corbyn supporters everywhere with his new freewheeling style, free of the shackles of broadcasting 'impartiality' regulations, laid into the bumbling blonde Brexit backer on the BBC's Question Time programme.
He warned that Brexit was too much of a risk with a right-wing Conservative government in power.
He said: "Let me be clear about what I'm saying about the Conservatives. We now know what a £35,000 a year education at Eton buys you.
"It's the ability to stand up, slag off your opponents, if you're not winning the argument start raising ludicrous arguments about the EU banning banana bunches more than three.
"And if that doesn't work you tussle your hair and you grin in a sort of inane manner.

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"If I'd paid £35,000 a year to Eton and they came out doing that, I'd be disgusted."
Tory minister Amber Rudd hit back, asking for "less personal insults."
And host David Dimbleby asked who he was talking about.
Mason responded: "I'm talking about Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson who is debasing the rationality of this debate, and you [Rudd] should be very, very worried that this guy could be leading your party if he wins the referendum."
Ms Rudd said she wasn't worried about that, but she was worried about "personal insults".
She said: "Here you are, a brilliant man, and you're focusing on someone's education rather than the arguments for or against the EU."

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Boris Johnson

Mason retorted: "This is what John Major was saying. He was saying the Tory right is adopting Ukip's argument, because this is what the Tories will become if this right-wing faction within it gets their way after the 23rd of June. It's this that frightens above more than anything else.
He suggested that a right-lurching Tory party could be more terrifying than Ukip.
He added: "Ukip is a known factor. We don't know what these guys will do if they take control of your party."
Addressing Amber Rudd's complaints of personal attacks, he said: "There's a reason you're straying away from talking about Boris Johnson as an individual, and that's because he could be your leader in six weeks time."
Read more: Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley among hundreds of stars calling for Britain to remain in the EU
Mr Mason, who recently quit as Channel 4 News Economics Editor so he could engage in 'radical' left-wing politics, is clearly enjoying his retirement.
As well as ripping into Boris, he turned his fire on Jeremy Hunt, tax cheats and Tory MPs under investigation for alleged electoral fraud.
In one rant, after a question on the prison system, he said Britain paid too much attention to punishing crimes committed by the poor, and not enough to those committed by the rich.