Exclusive: Professor Michael Dougan went viral earlier this month after a video backing Remain campaign amassed almost seven million views
A University of Liverpool EU law professor has produced an incredible out-of-office email response after receiving a number of abusive messages from Brexit supporters.
Professor Michael Dougan (pictured above) — an EU legal expert specialising in constitutional law — made headlines earlier this month after a video (embedded below) of him explaining the potential consequences of Brexit went viral.
The Cambridge-educated prof gave a 30-minute talk at Liverpool’s Law School in the run-up to the historic referendum that was viewed by almost seven million Facebook users.
Since then it would appear the top EU expert has been the subject of abuse from those who didn’t agree with his position on Brexit.
In an astonishing out-of-office email response (pictured below), the legal academic reveals that he’s been accused of being “paid by the European Commission” and having his “snout in the EU trough”.
The email also suggests that Dougan — who is originally from Northern Ireland — has received messages calling for his deportation. The Liverpool-based law lecturer politely asks his abusers “not be offended if I do not treat replying to your message as a priority.”
Speaking to Legal Cheek, Dougan — who has since changed his auto-response — said:
I’ve now updated it to reflect the fact that: a) I simply can’t deal with the vast numbers of emails from frightened and angry people which are now arriving by the hour; and b) since Friday, the racist messages have starting coming in larger numbers too, along the lines of “fuck off back to paddyland you fucking IRA c***”. Charming. I do hope Nigel Farage, Michael Gove, Boris Johnson and Gisela Stuart feel very proud of themselves and of what they have done to our country.
Despite Dougan’s viral video, the UK voted to leave the EU in a historic referendum late last week with a margin of 52% to 48%. As a result, Dougan is likely to be a man in demand, as British politicians and lawyers try to work out how we go about cutting ties with Europe.