As Left Remainers are unifying, here's a quick tour of Brexit fratricide
The Leave campaign is run by ‘cretins’ who are ‘treating the public as fools’.
Don’t take our word for it. That’s just what they’ve said about each other.
As the Remain camp looks increasingly unified, (especially in on its Left flank), here’s a reminder of recent fratricide among the Brexiters:
– Nigel Farage has called the leaders of Vote Leave, the official Leave campaign, ‘cretins’ who are more interested in Tory politics than Brexit.
Asked if he and its leaders Matthew Elliott and Dominic Cummings want the same outcome, Farage replied: ‘Do they? I think they’re a bit more worried about who succeeds Cameron in No 10.’
– Vote Leave say Nigel Farage is ‘toxic’ and ‘puts voters off’. Farage told the Guardian Vote Leave are briefing against him ‘every day’, adding: ‘It’s crackers to think that you can win a referendum campaign with Boris and the likes of the cabinet. You can’t.’
– Pro-Brexit MP Sarah Wollaston says the Leave campaign was making ‘misleading’ and ‘outlandish claims’, accusing it of ‘cynical distortion’.
She adds: ‘the Leave campaign clearly does not have an extra £350m per week to promise the NHS and they should stop treating the public as fools.’
– Leave.EU funder Arron Banks has called Vote Leave director Dominic Cummings ‘a liability and a danger to both Leave campaigns’.
Banks also funds UKIP and recently said families losing thousands of pounds a year is a ‘price worth paying’ for Brexit.
– Pro-Brexit novelist Dreda Say Mitchell says Nigel Farage lacks ‘a basic level of empathy and respect’. When debating alongside him recently she was appalled by his comments on immigration and diversity.
Mitchell wrote later she had wanted to ‘swap chairs around so I could enjoy more congenial company’.
7 Responses to “Brexit leaders are ‘toxic’ and ‘cretins’ – and that’s what they say about each other”
Martyn Wood-Bevan
I am just amazed at how the Brexiteers criticise every “Expert ” on the planet and accuse them all of “Antibrexitism” Are they seriously suggesting that the OBR the IFS, the IMF, the WTO, the Treasury, the Bank of England, the US President and just about every Economist known to man is just clueless or politically corrupt? At the same time Cameron and Osborne have been an embarrassment on the Remain side.
Ross Armour
The Brexit side was already on a downward slope the day the Electoral Commission gave Vote Leave official status ahead of Grassroots Out. I am a Remain voter but Farage at the forefront would have been an asset to the Brexit side. Far more knowledge of the EU than Boris and the rest of the Establishment figures. A grassroots based campaign would have given the Leave side a chance to mobilize similar to what Alex Salmond did in the Scottish referendum. Now though, their arguments continued to be batted down and propaganda found out. At least Farage may have been able to deflect the majority of the debate over to immigration
John Woods
I find it strange that Gove and Farage cannot make a decent case for Brexit. Farage has been a MEP for over a decade and said he had claimed £2,000,000 in expenses before the last EU election. Why do they simply deny the validity of any independent body, such as the IFS or the OBR, and claim they are paid stooges, when they have established reputations for accuracy and responsibility. The only answer I can suggest is that they do not believe they have a valid case for Brexit and cannot admit that their decision is based on instinct.
Jameel
Why I am still undecided on EU
Bloc of Nations: Do we really need to have bloc of countries protecting each other and not bothering about people living in other countries world over. This is a narrower view. The best we can have is borderless world rather than power centres built around blocs of nations mainly based on race, religion or colour creating antagonism around. Verdict Vote Leave.
Size of the UK: The population density of the UK is much more than double of France and triple of Spain. Can this country with the size it has got be able to cope with the number of people coming in with every new country joining the EU and from the the existing member states? I am not convinced. Verdict Vote Leave.
Workers’ rights: Although my vote is for Jeremy Corbyn and the labour party till he leads the party, yet I find Labour’s position of workers’ rights awkward. It appears that presumption is that they will not win the election in the foreseeable future and therefore want to fight for the rights of workers through EU. If Labour party expects to perform well in 2020 and continue to do in the elections thereafter they will not need Europe to bring equality and fairness. They can do it themselves. Verdict Vote Leave
Being myself an immigrant: I am an immigrant from a non-EU country. Because of the situation created by the mass migration from Europe immigrants from non-EU countries have come under massive pressure. Rules to enter the country or to stay in the country have been tightened so much that it is next to impossible to come and continue to live in this country. This is affecting the UK’s talent pool as people from non-EU countries with skills and talent are discouraged. Verdict Vote Leave
People leading the Leave group: Having given the above reasons in favour of vote leave you might be wondering why am I still undecided. The reason is simple: I have never liked any of the politicians leading vote leave campaign. (Although I like Nigel Farage as an orator not as a policy maker, Boris Johnson as a maverick and IDS for his epic resignation letter.) This one reason is overwhelmingly shifting the balance towards vote remain. Verdict Vote Remain.
Overall Verdict: Remain
wg
Who gives a toss about Farage, Johnson, and co.
We know the EU is a crock of doodoo, and we want out.
It was never up to the talking heads, it was down to the people.