NICK CLEGG said Brexiteers are “thrashing around” and blaming the likes of Michel Barnier and civil servants for the problems created by the Irish border issue, which he blamed solely on the UK Government.
Mr Clegg, who lost his Liberal Democrat seat in the June 2017 elections, claimed the “mess” the UK is in surrounding the Irish border is “squarely and fairly” the fault of the Government.
The former deputy prime minister claimed “anything is possible” and insisted the DUP could pull out of Brexit talks over the Irish border issue and provoke a general election.
Speaking on France 24, Mr Clegg said: “British politics has become so polarised, angry and febrile that anything could happen.
“But the fundamental problem has not been invented in Brussels or invented in Dublin or invented by people like me who don’t like Brexit.”
He added: “I’m afraid, this is a problem entirely of the government’s own making. The Brexiteers promised a utopia to the British people. They are now being unable to deliver that utopia, including perfectly closed borders.
“And they are now thrashing around trying to blame everybody else. They are blaming the governor of the Bank of England. They are blaming civil servants. They are blaming Michel Barnier. They are blaming other governments.
“At the end of the day, the blame for the mess that the United Kingdom finds itself in can be squarely and fairly placed at the door of the government itself.”
The border issue has been Brexit’s most disputable issue and remains to be a controversial issue between Westminster and Brussels.
Prime Minister Theresa May put forward the idea of a “backstop” at an informal summit of EU leaders in Bulgaria earlier this month while the EU has floated its own “backstop” plan along similar lines.
Mr Clegg has consistently campaigned for a so-called ‘people’s vote’ on the final Brexit deal. Joining his demand is billionaire financier George Soros who said on Tuesday that the campaign for a second Brexit referendum will begin “in the next few days”.
Speaking at a summit organised by think tank European Council on Foreign Relations in Paris on Tuesday, Mr Soros said Brexit was an example of “territorial disintegration” which is “an immensely damaging process” and “harmful to both sides”.
Mr Soros claimed the UK had not yet made a conclusive decision on its EU exit and said it is “up to the British people to decide what they want to do.”
He said: “It would be better however if they came to a decision sooner rather than later. That’s the goal of an initiative called the ‘Best for Britain’, which I support.”
Mr Soros added: “The British public must express its support by a convincing margin in order to be taken seriously by Europe.”