EU Have To Be Joking

So Nigel Lawson making his “I strongly suspect ...” call for Britain to leave the EU was not a one-off event, but part of a concerted effort by like minded newspaper editors and owners to corral as many has-beens as could be mustered in an effort to force Young Dave into yielding the referendum they all crave. Murdoch, Rothermere and the Barclay Brothers can scent a world without regulatory restraint.

And that is all they care about: if jobs in their thousands migrate to the European mainland, does anyone seriously think they give a fig about that? While anyone not yet alert to the real reason for the press-generated Europhobia wakes up and smells the proverbial coffee, we can peruse the line-up of supposed titans urging us to turn our backs on Europe in exchange for, er, best not ask.

Lawson, who as I pointed out earlier was a bloody awful Chancellor of the Exchequer, has been joined by Norman Lamont, who, to no surprise at all, was also a bloody awful Chancellor of the Exchequer. Lamont presided over the Black Wednesday debacle, sang in his bathtub, later told that he regretted nothing, and then put the lid on it by losing the safe seat of Harrogate.

This less than dynamic duo have been joined by another political operator of serial ineptitude, Miguel Denzil Xavier Portillo, who was touted as a great leader in waiting, but failed in his bid to become Caudillo del Toryparty. A word in your shell-like, Mike: stick to the trains and travelogues, and try turning down the volume on the shirts, and you’ll come over as a lot more credible.

All these surviving dinosaurs have had their cause assisted by the breathtaking dishonesty of Charles Moore (Eton and Trinity College Cambridge) who has sprayed his credibility as Margaret Thatcher’s confidante up the wall in no style at all by asserting that she decided after leaving 10 Downing Street that Britain should leave the EU, but somehow managed not to get the information out there.

This is the most flagrant dishonesty: even Thatcher supporters like Andrew “Brillo Pad” Neil don’t believe that one. But Moore, despite his blazing trousers, has got his slice of pure invention onto the front page of the Maily Telegraph, and the assertion has also been touted by no-marks such as Nile “Chauncey” Gardiner, and the equally dishonest MEP Dan, Dan The Oratory Man.

Why should this matter? Well, quite apart from all the businesses that have set up, or remained, in the UK because of our EU membership, there is the small matter of the upcoming EU-USA trade deal, and potentially similar arrangements with China and other emerging economies. That can be added to the free market, freedom of movement, residence and work, open skies, consumer protection, and much more.

Interesting choice: ordinary citizens versus the greedy mega-rich. Simple, though.