JEREMY Hunt has been censured by the European Commission for comparing the EU to the Soviet Union.

During his speech to the Tory party conference in Birmingham on Sunday, the Foreign Secretary said: “What happened to the confidence and ideals of the European dream? The EU was set up to protect freedom. It was the Soviet Union that stopped people leaving.

“The lesson from history is clear: if you turn the EU club into a prison, the desire to get out won’t diminish it will grow and we won’t be the only prisoner that will want to escape.”

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But responding to the remarks, the commission’s chief spokesman, Margaritis Schinas, said yesterday: “I would say respectfully that we would all benefit – and in particular foreign affairs ministers – from opening a history book from time to time.”

Latvia’s ambassador to the UK and two former Foreign Office’s chief civil servants were among those who condemned the speech.

Peter Ricketts, who ran the Foreign Office in 2006-10, tweeted: “This rubbish is unworthy of a British Foreign Secretary. The EU isn’t a Soviet-style prison.

“Its legal order has brought peace and prosperity after a century of war. Our decision to leave was always going to leave us worse off. The only punishment is self-inflicted ”

Sir Simon Fraser, who led the Foreign Office in 2010-15, said he agreed with Lord Ricketts. “Whatever you think about Brexit, shocking failure of judgment for British foreign secretary to compare European Union with Soviet Union,” he wrote on Twitter.

The comparison would have been shocking for many EU member states that were once occupied by the Soviet Union or controlled from Moscow.

Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council and a former Polish prime minister, was a student supporter of Poland’s anti-communist Solidarity trade union.

He lost his job and was evicted from his home when Poland’s rulers cracked down on opponents in 1981, and was later jailed for founding a periodical about liberal economics. He has not commented on Hunt’s remarks.

Baiba Braže, Latvia’s ambassador to the UK, said the Soviets had “killed, deported, exiled and imprisoned hundreds of thousands of Latvia’s inhabitants”, contrasting that with the country’s time in the EU which she said had “brought prosperity, equality, growth, respect”.

Her comments were retweeted by Sabine Weyand, who is the EU deputy chief Brexit negotiator.

Steve Baker, the ex Brexit minister, said Hunt was trying “too hard” to win over his colleagues. Hunt’s remarks earned plaudits from former Ukip leader Nigel Farage.