Hillary Clinton on Tuesday took a swipe at U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservative Party for its decision to oppose the European Union’s censure of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's right-wing government.
“It’s disheartening to watch Conservatives in Brussels vote to shield Viktor Orban from censure – including British Tories,” Clinton said in a speech at Oxford University.
She then suggested the Tories had departed from the vision of former Tory Prime Ministers Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher.
“They’ve come a long way from the party of Churchill and Thatcher,” she said.
The European Parliament voted last month to censure Orban’s government -- which opponents claim is authoritarian and anti-democratic, particularly regarding the media and judicial independence. U.K. Conservative Party members of the European Parliament (MEPs) voted against the measure.
Clinton warned of a “slide into autocracy” and said it was at least as grave a threat to the “European project” as the 2008 financial crisis or Britain’s departure from the European Union (Brexit).
Orban’s Fidesz Party comfortably won re-election earlier this year, running on a campaign of opposing mass-migration into the country in the wake of the continent’s 2015 migration crisis. It has also taken action to crack down on the influence of Hungarian-American left-wing billionaire George Soros -- including a “Stop Soros” bill that makes it illegal for non-governmental organizations (NGO) to organize illegal immigration into the country.
A spokesperson for the Hungarian government, in a comment to Fox News, noted the past connections between Soros and Clinton.
“Hillary Clinton is a failed politician whose losing campaign was also financed by George Soros,” Hungarian government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs said. “She represents Soros’s pro-immigration politics, and these are politics that were rejected at both the last Hungarian and American elections.”
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Prime Minister May, who became Britain’s second female prime minister in 2016 and held onto power after a tight election last year, is attempting to negotiate the terms of Britain’s departure from the European Union in March. Her compromise “Chequers plan” has been dismissed by both E.U. officials and hardline Brexiteers, and she spent last week attempting to rally her party behind her at the Conservative Party’s annual conference. She also faces opposition from "Remainers" who seek to either hold a second referendum on Brexit or cancel Britain's departure entirely.
Meanwhile, Clinton, who lost her second bid for the presidency to President Trump in 2016, has been engaged in a number of book launches and speaking tours. On Monday, she and husband and former President Bill Clinton announced an international speaking tour offering the chance to "hear one-of-a-kind conversations with the two leaders as they tell their stories from some of the most impactful moments in modern history."
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Clinton has also formed a political fundraising group -- Onward Together -- that seeks to "encourage people to organize, get involved, and run for office."
Clinton also weighed on the Monday night swearing-in ceremony of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in an interview with CNN. She slammed the event as a “political rally” that “undermined the image and integrity of the court.”
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