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Wednesday 2 June 2021

Spoons Boss EU Migration U-Turn

When it came to business leaders ready and willing to proclaim their unwavering support for Brexit, none was less backward in coming forward than Tim Martin, the founder and chairman of food pub chain J D Wetherspoon. He pushed for the UK to leave the EU, he donated to the Vote Leave campaign, his pubs banished European brands, and there was a Spoons mass mailing of what was considered pro-Brexit propaganda.


Martin was warned that one of the consequences of Brexit would be that some EU nationals who had lived and worked in the UK would leave the country, either to return home or move to other EU member states. This, he decreed, was Project Fear. Nothing, but nothing, could be bad about Brexit. Now has come the screeching U-Turn.

The hospitality industry - for which read bars, restaurants and of course all those Spoons pubs - began to reopen to customers in April, with indoor opening last month. Thus far, it is table service only, and Martin and his merry men have made a startling discovery: they are short of staff. This may be not unconnected to, er, EU nationals who had lived and worked in the UK before Brexit choosing to leave the country. As he was warned.

So what is Mr Spoons’ preferred solution to the problem which, in significant part, has been caused by the wonders of the Brexit he so ardently championed? You’ll love this one: as the London Economic has told, “Tim Martin calls for more EU migration as Wetherspoons is hit by bar staff shortage”. Yes, he wanted Brexit, but not THAT kind of Brexit. No, he wanted the kind of Brexit beneficial to Himself Personally Now.


And he was prepared to display the full range of his prejudice and ignorance in order to get his point across. “The UK has a low birth rate. A reasonably liberal immigration system controlled by those we have elected, as distinct from the EU system, would be a plus for the economy and the country … America, Australia and Singapore have benefitted for many decades from this approach. Immigration combined with democracy works”.

Britain is not producing enough workers! Perhaps this is not unrelated to all those taking advantage of Spoons’ cheap booze and making themselves incapable of procreation. But he is sure that there is something called an “EU system”, which is bad, and an alternative system controlled by the UK, which is good. Because it is somehow more democratic!

How much sense does that make? Well, it makes none at all. Martin was warned what would happen. He chose to dismiss those warnings as mere scaremongering. What he was warned about has now happened. He, and all those other Brexit boosting business folk, advocated for this outcome, made their beds, and now they can lie in them.

After the way he’s behaved towards his own staff, Tim Martin should not be surprised if the public no longer gives a rat’s arse about his predicament. I’ll just leave that one there.


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13 comments:

Mr Larrington said...

I'm sure that after hearing this the honest paups of the EU will be queuing round the block to work long hours at minimum wage for Horst Würzel, a giant scarecrow made entirely of gammon.

Arnold said...

You'd need a heart of stone not to laugh.

Anonymous said...

Be a good idea if he fucked off back to Australia and took his cheap ale piss with him. And the food he gets from local pigs troughs.

Anonymous said...

The Spoons' punters will have to pull their own and not for the first time.........

Gulliver said...

Tory's like Martin were never opposed to immigration per se, what they were deeply opposed to was the idea that immigrant workers such as those from the EU enjoyed the same employment rights as anyone from the UK. They very much enjoy the idea of employing foreign workers as "guests" who are totally dependent on the good graces of employers like....Tony Martin, to stay in the UK.

So to me there's nothing at all inconsistent in what Martin is saying now, he got what he wanted, now for the punch line - watch how genuinely cheap immigrant labour drives down the wages of indigenous UK hospitality staff.

Dave said...

As somebody commenting on that photo said on another blog -"Father Jack seems to have let himself go over the lockdown".

Plento Demento said...

"‘Bloody foreigners, staying over there avoiding our jobs’ bemoans Wetherspoons’ Tim Martin" - News Thump

Anonymous said...

Not only is he a stupid looking tory tosser, he's a stupid looking tory tosser who also looks like the byproduct of a get together by Worzel Gummidge and Harry Enfield's old git LoL Fuck that! Sucker deserves everything that's coming to him.

Jonathan said...

Wouldn't it be great if Tim actually went on Question Time and told his gammon audience he got it wrong big time..

Agent orange said...

Probably shouldn't have told his workforce to go work at Tesco's during the pandemic. The guy is an absolute tool

James said...

Martin is a grade A level tosser. I hope his chain goes under and the staff, whom do not benefit from working bank holidays, band together and take their knowledge and form their own businesses. Fuck Martin and Wetherspoons. Due to Covid its been a long time since I have a night on town but boycotting this brand is on the cards. Martin is a parasite. Fuck him. I hope the cunt learns the hard way what it is like to be vulnerable.

Arnold said...

Gulliver
"UK. They very much enjoy the idea of employing foreign workers as "guests" who are totally dependent on the good graces of employers like....Tony Martin, to stay in the UK."
No doubt. But like many prominent Brexiters,he denounced warnings of what was to come as Project Fear. And are still in denial about Brexit's consequences.

AndyC said...

Jonathan wrote:
'Wouldn't it be great if Tim actually went on Question Time and told his gammon audience he got it wrong big time..'

Fat chance. Brexiters dont do 'I got it wrong.'