Booker Prize-winning author Ian McEwan has launched a blistering attack on Brexit supporters, describing them as 'lying, ideological Brexiters' and 'a moneyed elite of cynical populists' who are driving the UK towards a 'calamitous exit' from the European Union. The 70-year-old novelist made the comments in a wide-ranging interview in which he also expressed admiration for German Chancellor Angela Merkel and revealed his hatred for a common kitchen appliance.
McEwan, whose novels include Atonement and Amsterdam, said the living person he most despises is not an individual but the collective of Brexit campaigners. 'The lying, ideological Brexiters, a moneyed elite of cynical populists, who are trying to drive us towards a calamitous exit from the EU,' he said. In contrast, he named Merkel as the person he most admires, praising her for trying 'to keep alive the dreams of a tolerant, inclusive, open society' despite being 'under attack from all sides'.
The author also revealed his intense dislike for a common kitchen appliance, which he described in a fiery rant. While the source material does not specify the appliance, McEwan's frustration with it is clear. Elsewhere in the interview, he discussed his early life, his writing career, and his love of tennis, noting that his second serve is the trait he most deplores in himself.
McEwan, who was born in Hampshire and took a creative writing MA at the University of East Anglia, won the Booker Prize in 1998 for Amsterdam. His novels Atonement and On Chesil Beach have been adapted into films, and The Children Act is set for cinema release on 24 August. He described becoming a stepfather to two girls and then a father to two boys as 'an explosion of love'.
