Daniel Kawczynski: Tory MP finally admits being wrong about Britain not receiving US aid after Second World War
Academics, historians and school children were among those who pointed out his Tweet saying UK got no financial help was inaccurate
The Tory MP who claimed the UK received no aid from America’s famous Marshall Plan after the Second World War has finally admitted he was wrong and apologised.
Brexiteer Daniel Kawczynski failed to check his basic GCSE-level history books before firing off a tweet earlier this month suggesting Britain got nothing under the initiative which helped rebuild Western Europe.
The missive – widely derided in 12,000 replies – was originally designed to suggest the UK was not being treated fairly by the EU during Brexit negotiations.
“Britain helped to liberate half of Europe,” the Shrewsbury MP wrote. “She mortgaged herself up to eye balls in process. No Marshall Plan for us only for Germany.
"We gave up war reparations in 1990. We put £370 billion into EU since we joined. Watch the way ungrateful EU treats us now. We will remember."
‘Brexit is like...’ The Top 20 Twitter analogies
Show all 20
‘Brexit is like...’ The Top 20 Twitter analogies
1/20 The Beatles
"Brexit is like Liverpool trashing all its links to The Beatles and spending all its time and energy building Esther McVey World."
Shutterstock / terry bouch
2/20 The number seven
"Trying to understand Brexit is like trying to figure out what colour the letter seven smells like."
Shutterstock / jgl247
3/20 Pilots
"Brexit is like being in a plane hurtling towards the ground with the pilot and co-pilot arguing over who would crash it better."
Shutterstock / View Apart
4/20 Operation
"Brexit is like going to the doctor, being told you need an operation, agreeing to it, then finding out they are going to cut off your cock & sew it to your forhead...
...but refusing to get a 2nd opinion."
Shutterstock / Dmytro Zinkevych
5/20 Wall
"My mentions have taught me that Brexit is like Trump’s wall. For its devoted fans it has a symbolic value totally unrelated to its workability, its true cost or the glaring self-interest of its proposers, whereas non-believers see nothing but a deranged and costly vanity project."
Shutterstock / Tony Craddock
6/20 Skydive
"brexit is like a sitcom where at the start of the episode the main character tells a casual lie about being able to skydive to impress someone and now they're at the end of the episode in a plane about to jump"
Shutterstock / Mauricio Graiki
7/20 Crumble
"Brexit is like if Farage & Johnson said “May we make you an *amazing* apple crumble?” & then 18 months later handed you a leaking bag of maggots & offal. You shouldn’t have to eat it."
Shutterstock / CKP1001
8/20 Punch
"‘Asking me to support Brexit is like asking me to punch my constituents in the face,’ said Anna Turley, the Labour MP for Redcar, which voted 66:34 to leave. ‘It doesn’t make it easier if you tell me my constituents want to be punched.’"
Shutterstock / ZoneCreative
9/20 Fire
"Watching this government deal with Brexit is like being locked outside your house while you can see people inside setting fire to the furniture as the law’s telling you you can’t go in and stop them."
Shutterstock / Gorb Andrii
10/20 Villains
"Brexit is like living in a superhero movie that has no heroes, just loads of incompetent villains fighting over who is more evil."
Shutterstock / Aisyaqilumaranas
11/20 Book
"Brexit is like a bad novel. You are so far into it you just want to skip to the end to see if it ended as badly as it had begun.
(You throw the book at the wall when you realise it is the first book in a trilogy)."
Shutterstock / Stokkete
12/20 Cricket
"Watching Brexit is like trying to reverse engineer the rules of cricket by listening to the radio. I have absolutely no idea what is going on."
Shutterstock / ChrisVanLennepPhoto
13/20 Car
"Brexit is like the UK took a motorway exit, then found the road turning into a rutted grassy track, and now the car's stuck in a muddy field, there's no help in sight, it's getting dark, everyone's shouting at the driver, and the passengers are beginning to worry about food."
Shutterstock / Kolbakova Olga
14/20 Cable
"Watching Brexit is like watching someone try and plug a coaxial aerial cable into a HDMI port. There is a lot of anger, a lot of swearing, and a lot of remarks about how this used to work before."
Shutterstock / Elnur
15/20 Windows
"#Brexit is like going back to Windows 3.1"
16/20 Liars
"I'm sure most people remember a kid at school who just lied constantly? Who refused to back down, however outlandish the lie, and however it was disproven?
Brexit is like all of those kids from every school have got together, and are now running the country."
Shutterstock / chairavee laphom
17/20 Donors
"Trying to extricate ourselves from the EU, and Brexit, is like a multiple transplant patient attempting to give all the donated organs back."
Shutterstock / Luuuusa
18/20 Electricity
"Paying my taxes to pay for Brexit is like asking a guy on death row if he has any change to put in the meter for the electric chair."
Shutterstock / Fer Gregory
19/20 Bandersnatch
"Brexit is like watching Bandersnatch with your bae where bae is 70,000 Conservative party members hogging the PlayStation controller & choosing the most WTF option every time.!
Shutterstock / George Dolgikh
20/20 Constipation
"Brexit is like the shit that never comes. Total constitutional constipation. Ironically Brexit also sounds like a constipation relief medicine."
Shutterstock / sasha2109
1/20 The Beatles
"Brexit is like Liverpool trashing all its links to The Beatles and spending all its time and energy building Esther McVey World."
Shutterstock / terry bouch
2/20 The number seven
"Trying to understand Brexit is like trying to figure out what colour the letter seven smells like."
Shutterstock / jgl247
3/20 Pilots
"Brexit is like being in a plane hurtling towards the ground with the pilot and co-pilot arguing over who would crash it better."
Shutterstock / View Apart
4/20 Operation
"Brexit is like going to the doctor, being told you need an operation, agreeing to it, then finding out they are going to cut off your cock & sew it to your forhead...
...but refusing to get a 2nd opinion."
Shutterstock / Dmytro Zinkevych
5/20 Wall
"My mentions have taught me that Brexit is like Trump’s wall. For its devoted fans it has a symbolic value totally unrelated to its workability, its true cost or the glaring self-interest of its proposers, whereas non-believers see nothing but a deranged and costly vanity project."
Shutterstock / Tony Craddock
6/20 Skydive
"brexit is like a sitcom where at the start of the episode the main character tells a casual lie about being able to skydive to impress someone and now they're at the end of the episode in a plane about to jump"
Shutterstock / Mauricio Graiki
7/20 Crumble
"Brexit is like if Farage & Johnson said “May we make you an *amazing* apple crumble?” & then 18 months later handed you a leaking bag of maggots & offal. You shouldn’t have to eat it."
Shutterstock / CKP1001
8/20 Punch
"‘Asking me to support Brexit is like asking me to punch my constituents in the face,’ said Anna Turley, the Labour MP for Redcar, which voted 66:34 to leave. ‘It doesn’t make it easier if you tell me my constituents want to be punched.’"
Shutterstock / ZoneCreative
9/20 Fire
"Watching this government deal with Brexit is like being locked outside your house while you can see people inside setting fire to the furniture as the law’s telling you you can’t go in and stop them."
Shutterstock / Gorb Andrii
10/20 Villains
"Brexit is like living in a superhero movie that has no heroes, just loads of incompetent villains fighting over who is more evil."
Shutterstock / Aisyaqilumaranas
11/20 Book
"Brexit is like a bad novel. You are so far into it you just want to skip to the end to see if it ended as badly as it had begun.
(You throw the book at the wall when you realise it is the first book in a trilogy)."
Shutterstock / Stokkete
12/20 Cricket
"Watching Brexit is like trying to reverse engineer the rules of cricket by listening to the radio. I have absolutely no idea what is going on."
Shutterstock / ChrisVanLennepPhoto
13/20 Car
"Brexit is like the UK took a motorway exit, then found the road turning into a rutted grassy track, and now the car's stuck in a muddy field, there's no help in sight, it's getting dark, everyone's shouting at the driver, and the passengers are beginning to worry about food."
Shutterstock / Kolbakova Olga
14/20 Cable
"Watching Brexit is like watching someone try and plug a coaxial aerial cable into a HDMI port. There is a lot of anger, a lot of swearing, and a lot of remarks about how this used to work before."
Shutterstock / Elnur
15/20 Windows
"#Brexit is like going back to Windows 3.1"
16/20 Liars
"I'm sure most people remember a kid at school who just lied constantly? Who refused to back down, however outlandish the lie, and however it was disproven?
Brexit is like all of those kids from every school have got together, and are now running the country."
Shutterstock / chairavee laphom
17/20 Donors
"Trying to extricate ourselves from the EU, and Brexit, is like a multiple transplant patient attempting to give all the donated organs back."
Shutterstock / Luuuusa
18/20 Electricity
"Paying my taxes to pay for Brexit is like asking a guy on death row if he has any change to put in the meter for the electric chair."
Shutterstock / Fer Gregory
19/20 Bandersnatch
"Brexit is like watching Bandersnatch with your bae where bae is 70,000 Conservative party members hogging the PlayStation controller & choosing the most WTF option every time.!
Shutterstock / George Dolgikh
20/20 Constipation
"Brexit is like the shit that never comes. Total constitutional constipation. Ironically Brexit also sounds like a constipation relief medicine."
Shutterstock / sasha2109
But after academics, historians and one or two year 10 schoolchildren lined up to point out he was, in fact, not correct, the 47-year-old has now, two weeks later, held his hands up to being “inaccurate”.
He told the Shropshire Star newspaper: "It has been pointed out to me by eminent academics/professors and senior researchers in the House of Commons Library that Britain did receive aid under the Marshall Plan.
"The line in my tweet which stated that Britain did not benefit was therefore inaccurate."
The precise amount Britain received was £3bn, making the country the single biggest receipient of Marshall Aid money.
Mr Kawczynski added: "I would like to apologise for putting this inaccurate sentence within my tweet. My own personal conviction, however, remains that the massive loans that Britain had to take out during the war from America outweighed the benefits of the aid received.
"On 31 December 2006, Britain made a final payment of about $83m (£45.5m) and thereby discharged the last of its war loans from the US. By the end of Second World War, Britain had amassed an immense debt of £21bn.”
He did not thank any school children who had also offered him an accurate version of history following the original tweet.
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