Nigel Farage faces legal threat after accusing Jo Cox’s widower of ‘extremism’ over support for Hope not Hate as pair clash over Berlin lorry terror attack
NIGEL Farage has accused the widower of murdered MP Jo Cox of supporting 'extremism' after the pair clashed over the Berlin lorry terror attack.
Hope not Hate are preparing to launch legal action against the former Ukip boss after his comments about Brendan Cox this morning.
It began after Mr Farage said the shocking attack on a Christmas market last night, which killed 12 people and injured dozens more, was the “legacy” of Angela Merkel.
The German Chancellor has come under fire from the anti-immigrant section of the country for her policy on accepting refugees, with more than a million settling there last year.
And after the news the man behind the attack is possibly a Pakistani asylum seeker - who has now been cleared by police - the chairman of the far-right party Alternative for Deutschland said: “These are Merkel’s dead.”
Following suit this morning Mr Farage posted on Twitter: "Terrible news from Berlin but no surprise. Events like these will be the Merkel legacy."
He was immediately attacked for trying to politicise the tragedy, with one user replying: “This post shows the type of human you are. Using this as point scoring against Merkel, disgusting.
Another added: “Shame on you for using this horror for your destructive political agenda. Stay away from my city Berlin!”
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And Brendan Cox, whose wife Jo, the Labour MP for Batley and Spen, was murdered by far-right terrorist Thomas Mair in June, also responded.
Referencing the reaction to his wife's death, just days before the Brexit vote, he tweeted: “Blaming politicians for the actions of extremists? That's a slippery slope Nigel.”
He added: “Far right and Islamist extremists share same hate driven psychology, intolerance towards difference and tendency to violence.
“We must defeat both.”
The comments clearly angered Mr Farage, who when asked about them on LBC said: "Well he would know more about extremists than me."
Attacking Mr Cox for his association with 'Hope Not Hate', he described the group as "masquerading as lovely and peaceful, but actually pursue violent and very undemocratic means".
Mr Farage added: "I'm sorry, Mr Cox, but it is time people started to take responsibility for what happened.
"Ms. Merkel has been directly responsible for a whole range of of social and terrorist problems in Germany. It's about time we confronted that truth."
Despite being reminded the man's wife had been murdered by an extremist, the MEP continued his attack.
He added: "It's a terrible thing what happened to his family, with the murder of his wife.
"But he continues to be active in the political arena, and given some of the organisations that he supports, I can't just stand here and say 'I'm not going to respond'."
In response the group Hope not Hate said: "We have no idea on what Mr Farage bases his outrageous comments.
"HOPE not hate has a proud history of campaigning against extremism and hatred."
It has since consulted its legal team over the incident, and released a statement saying: "Our lawyer has just sent Farage a letter demanding he retracts and publicly apologises or we will begin legal proceedings against him."
It has also set up a webpage to allow people to donate money to them to help sue the 52-year-old.
Several labour MPs have also attacked Mr Farage for his criticism of Mr Cox, with Tracey Brabin, who replaced Jo as MP for Batley, calling it a "new low".
Birmingham MP Jess Phillips tweeted: "I've just seen Farage's comments to Brendan Cox.
"Don't know why I'm upset Farage is a lying racist in cheap suit of knock off authenticity."
And her colleague Anna Turley posted that "it's time people started treating him as the dangerous fascist he is not an eccentric clown".
It comes after dramatic images emerged this morning showing police escorting an apparent suspect into custody, after making an arrest about 2km from the scene.
But it is now being reported the person in custody is not responsible, and the attacker is likely still at large.
Chancellor Merkel described her “mourning” over the horrific scenes in her country’s capital just days before Christmas.
Reports suggest the Polish-registered 32-tonne truck was hijacked before being driven into the Breitscheidplatz Christmas markets, leaving a bloody trail in its wake.
The vehicle mounted the pavement before crashing into a crowd of shoppers, tearing through stalls before coming to a stop after a deadly 150ft rampage outside the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in the city’s centre.
Police are treating the rampage as a terror attack, saying they believed the truck was "intentionally" driven into the markets.
