In the midst of everything happening around a meeting of Labour’s national executive committee regarding the future of Jeremy Corbyn (which didn’t go so well), there were some interesting bits of Brexit related news yesterday. Martin Schultz, the president of the European Parliament, wrote an interesting article in the Guardian. In it, he comes across as […]
The flight of the Brexiteers
When I try and think of what the lasting image of the EU referendum might be, I will hazard a prediction (very dangerous these days – I was convinced Andrea Leadsom was going to be prime minister of the country only yesterday morning) that it could well be the slapped arse faces of Boris Johnson […]
What is so hard to understand about single market = freedom of movement?
Since the Leave vote hit us, it has occurred to me just how little the political class understands our relationship with the EU pre-referendum, never mind what the public has really absorbed on the subject. There have been many misapprehensions, but the one that really stands out is the idea that somehow we can stay […]
The United Kingdom has voted to Leave the EU. Now what?
I can only hope it doesn’t go as badly from here as it looks like it will from I’m standing right now. Up until the final moment, the mood in Westminster was very much that Remain were certain to win. You saw it in Farage’s resignation, in Boris’ body language. The polls had bounced back […]
If Remain wins today, we need to do a lot better from here on in
It is easy to look at the Leave campaign as an ardent Remainer and see nothing but bile. The Turkish ploy was deeply cynical, for instance. But one cannot look at the polls being neck in neck and dismiss almost 50% of the voting public (if we on the Remain side are lucky today, anyhow) […]
One day before the EU referendum: final thoughts
So here we are. After what feels like years of campaigning, the polling stations will open less than 24 hours from now on what will be one of the most momentous decisions the country has ever undertaken. At present I feel a bit like someone who has been told he might have cancer, but the […]
If Leave wins on Thursday, could there be a Tory-UKIP rapprochement?
Several years ago at a particular Tory conference, I organised an event around whether the Coalition was a good or a bad thing from a strictly Conservative perspective (incidentally, I think history has conclusively come down on the “good thing” side of that argument). I asked Peter Bone whether he felt closer to David Cameron […]
The EU referendum campaign really has been a display of the worst of modern politics
I’ve come to the point where one of the chief reasons I want us to vote Remain on Thursday is so we don’t have to talk about the European Union again for another year at least. As a Europhile, it pains me to say this, but after the last few months it is how I […]
The worst thing about Brexit is that the people who vote for it will be most adversely affected if it happens
Several areas in London are odds on to be the place that votes to Remain in the EU in the largest numbers. Clacton-on-Sea is odds on to be the place which votes most heavily for Leave. Two things are interesting about this. One, the places in London voting for Remain are the areas most directly affected […]
What will suspended campaigning mean for the EU referendum result?
Both EU referendum campaigns have been suspended since Thursday afternoon and look to be halted until Monday. Given the proximity to polling day, we’re in uncharted waters here. Given what happened on Thursday, there was no choice. The tone of the campaign had become unbearably hateful, and in light of an MP being murdered in […]