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Article 50 was only meant in case of a European dictator, says the British man who wrote it

Lord Kerr originally devised Article 50 (Picture: REX Features)
Lord Kerr originally devised Article 50 (Picture: REX Features)

The man who originally devised Article 50 has revealed that it was originally created to deal with dictatorial regimes – and he didn’t expect the UK to use it.

Lord Kerr is the former UK diplomat who drafted the rules to dictate how a country leaves the European Union during his time as Secretary General of the European Convention in the early 2000s.

But in an new interview with CNN, he explained that it was devised to remove dictatorial states from the European Union – and explained a hypothetical situation for its use.

When asked if he ever believed if it would be used, he replied: ‘Yes, but I didn’t think it would be us.

‘I conceived the situation where a dictatorship appeared inside the European Union, perhaps in Central Europe or Eastern Europe, and the European Union said you no longer respect the values of the European Union so we’re going to cut off your voting rights, which we can, and the dictator walked out in a huff.

‘I thought we needed a procedure for walking out in a huff, but I didn’t think it would be the Brits who would be walking out in a huff.’

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His claims come after the UK triggered Article 50 in March, marking the beginning of the long process that will eventually lead to Britain’s exit from the European Union.

Last week, former Ukip leader and leading Brexiteer Nigel Farage was forced to delete a tweet after claiming that the UK had ‘no obligation to pay anything to the EU after 2020’ – despite nothing appearing in Article 50 to back his claim.