Mainstream media favourite Terry Christian has taken some backlash after claiming he knows employers planning to sack Brexit-voting employees, and urging other bosses to do the same.
“Brexiters were conned – maybe it won’t hit home until they get that P45,” Christian asserted on social media, referring to the form a typical British worker would receive after being laid off.
“[T]hankfully i know at least 3 employers already ensuring brexit voters are laid off first , all employers should follow suit where possible [sic],” he added.
The Mancunian talking head has enjoyed a number of lucrative positions at the BBC and Channel 4, both publicly-owned broadcasters, since the 1980s, also featuring on some commercial outlets.
While his star has faded in recent years, he still appears as a “celebrity panellist” on a semi-regular basis on programmes such as Jeremy Vine on 5 — headed by a fellow BBC alumnus.
Christian received a fierce backlash for his comments, with some critics suggesting his story was invented and others demanding the discriminating employers be named and possibly investigated — but, unlike some other Remainers who have retreated from similarly intemperate remarks after they received wider exposure, the 58-year-old has only doubled down on his position.
“I know of 3 employers and 2 actual managers at huge companies doing the good deed of laying off brexit voters first – sad but fair – after all they knew exactly what they were voting for and it’s only short term pain for them – brexit cargo cultists just have to ‘believe’ more [sic],” he confirmed.
Some critics of the broadcaster, who was living in “leafy Cheshire” as of 2014 but prides himself on his working-class roots, focused on what they saw as his relish in voters in predominantly working-class areas in Northern England potentially being put out of work.
“Wigan, Tameside, Oldham, Rochdale, Bolton, Salford, Bury, Stockport, Trafford all voted leave, so these are the areas you want people sacking & forced into homelessness Terry?” asked one social media user. “Is that right? Is this rational thought?”
“Yes , lots of those areas sadly thought voting to leave the EU would mean no more Pakistanis and other muslims coming in , a racist vote [sic]” the journalist replied confidently.
Christian did insist he was not calling for all Brexit voters to be sacked, however, only that they should be laid off first “if the business are having to lay people off because of Brexit.”
“It’s only fair really and though its sad , I’m pleased that many firms are doing just that [sic],” he added.
He declined to name the bosses laying off Brexit voters he claimed to be aware of — as he is “not a grass” — saying only: “[I]magine owning a business suffering badly because of weak pound caused by Brexit and divvie workers wandering around saying ‘project fear’. You’d want rid of them first wouldn’t you [sic].”
His proposed sacking protocol is complicated by the fact that Britons vote in secret ballots, however, and that discriminating against employees for their “philosophical beliefs” is sometimes — although not always — disallowed under the Equality Act of 2010.
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