These Game of Thrones Brexit references are getting ridiculous
Michael Gove compared Brexit to Game of Thrones – and Twitter was having none of it
The Brexit debate rumbles on, with Prime Minister Theresa May holding her previously delayed ‘meaningful vote’ on the Withdrawal Agreement on Tuesday evening.
- What time is the Brexit 'meaningful vote' What is it about, when's the result and can I watch it on TV?
- Two very different takes on Brexit: The Uncivil War
- Ed Balls teaching Michael Gove how to dance Gangnam Style is as awkward as it sounds
In a last-ditch attempt to drum up support among MPs for the deal to make it through parliament tonight, Environment Secretary Michael Gove appeared on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme to warn about what would happen should the deal not be passed.
Watch Game of Thrones seasons 1 - 7 on NOW TV
The interview took an even stranger turn when Gove chose to quote Game of Thrones to further punctuate his point.
“If we don't vote for the deal tonight, in the words of Jon Snow, 'winter is coming',” he said.
"I think if we don't vote for the deal tonight we will do damage to our democracy by saying to people we are not going to implement a Brexit, and the opportunity that all of us have to live up to our democratic obligations is clear."
Game of Thrones fans will recognise Jon Snow’s (Kit Harington) utterance, foreshadowing the army of frozen undead attacking Westeros.
While Gove may have thought this to be a canny comparison, listeners were left less than impressed.
Some pointed out that Gove may have missed the mark with the reference, with columnist Caitlin Moran tweeting, “I love all the male politicians who keep quoting Game of Thrones without realising it's real subtext: climate change and ALL THE MALE LEADERS DYING OR KILLING EACH OTHER AND WOMEN TAKING OVER.”
https://twitter.com/caitlinmoran/status/1085113387460251648
TV critic Toby Earle also wryly commented, “Remember, Jon Snow knows nothing.”
https://twitter.com/TobyonTV/status/1085110346879324161
Writer Tony Lee added, “ Michael Gove has just said on Radio 4 that 'Winter is coming.' But this could be a good thing. I mean, at the start of Game of Thrones, Ned Stark says this. And since then we've had the resurgence of Dragons in the show. That's right! If MPs don't vote Brexit, we get Dragons!"
https://twitter.com/mrtonylee/status/1085114664747450368
Others felt the comparison between Brexit and a TV series somewhat lessened the seriousness of the situation.
https://twitter.com/MattTaggart/status/1085114348895379458
Meanwhile, other Game of Thrones fans felt it was necessary to point out the TV series is eligible for EU funding when filming in Northern Ireland...
https://twitter.com/camcamdamn/status/1085100824391491584
While political editor Stig Abell spoke for the nation when said he was fed up of politicians giving stupid Game of Thrones references at every opportunity.
https://twitter.com/StigAbell/status/1085099960947875840
Gove is not the first politician to reference the HBO series, which is due to air its final series later this year. President Donald Trump shared a Game of Thrones-styled poster with the words Sanctions Are Coming, in reference to sanctions he put on Iran.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1058388700617498625
It is also not the first time that Gove has compared politics to GOT, with the former chief whip popping up in a frankly utterly weird video by journalist James Delingpole.
Titled 'Gove in the Garden', he explained his favourite character was Tyrion Lannister, played by Peter Dinklage.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnXoQeGnT4Q
“The moment I love most is when he leads what’s apparently a hopeless charge of his troops in defence of King’s Landing against the forces of Stannis Baratheon," Gove declared in the 2014 video.
“You see there that this mishappen dwarf, reviled throughout his life, thought of some as some toxic figure, can at last rally a small band of loyal followers and at the last moment, he suddenly hears the sound of the relief column coming. And it’s his father, a father of which he has the most complicated of relationships, who then comes ahead of our relief army in order to defeat the Baratheon forces."
He then compared Lannister to Prime Minister Winston Churchill, saying he would “never, never, never surrender.”