Britain is due to leave the EU in 15 weeks with or without an agreement on future ties and officials from both sides are trading insults inspired by a 1970s WWII sitcom. In a BBC documentary to be screened on Thursday, EU Commission vice president Frans Timmermans recalls British negotiators behaving like characters in “Dad’s Army”.
The beloved British series features a World War II Home Guard unit of mainly elderly volunteers and their madcap adventures as they await a German invasion that never came. Timmermans, recalling Brexit talks with British ministers, said, “It’s like Lance Corporal Jones, you know? ‘Don’t panic, don’t panic,’ running around like idiots.”
On Thursday, Britain’s junior Brexit minister Martin Callanan was asked about the comments as he arrived in Brussels for talks with other EU Governments.