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| Never mind the EU arguments, just look who’s talking Never mind the EU arguments, just look who’s talking | |
| (4 months later) | |
| We should have a care about the toll this referendum campaign will be having on the personalities involved. Poor Barack Obama, he must be devastated. To be criticised by Nigel Farage like that, I just hope the US president’s global popularity can survive. And then for Boris Johnson to point out that the president was “part-Kenyan”, well he must have felt so humiliated. For so long the US president had kept the fact that he was black a secret, and then Johnson let the cat out of the bag. | We should have a care about the toll this referendum campaign will be having on the personalities involved. Poor Barack Obama, he must be devastated. To be criticised by Nigel Farage like that, I just hope the US president’s global popularity can survive. And then for Boris Johnson to point out that the president was “part-Kenyan”, well he must have felt so humiliated. For so long the US president had kept the fact that he was black a secret, and then Johnson let the cat out of the bag. |
| In the competition for “which side in the referendum can get the most impressive celebrities to back them” Obama is pretty much the trump card. Meanwhile those in the Brexit camp have Marie Le Pen speaking out on their behalf, perhaps unaware that most British people have quite a strong objection to racists. Oh and they don’t much like the French either. | In the competition for “which side in the referendum can get the most impressive celebrities to back them” Obama is pretty much the trump card. Meanwhile those in the Brexit camp have Marie Le Pen speaking out on their behalf, perhaps unaware that most British people have quite a strong objection to racists. Oh and they don’t much like the French either. |
| Never before in British politics has the casting been so much more important than the script | Never before in British politics has the casting been so much more important than the script |
| All our political lives we have been told it’s not about the personalities, it’s about the issues. Look at the facts, policies, philosophies, data – these are the things that should determine our decision in the polling booths. But really? Obama versus Le Pen? End of contest. | All our political lives we have been told it’s not about the personalities, it’s about the issues. Look at the facts, policies, philosophies, data – these are the things that should determine our decision in the polling booths. But really? Obama versus Le Pen? End of contest. |
| This 2016 referendum looks set to be the moment the British people finally gave up even pretending they were listening to the detail. The issues are so dense and complicated; we are struggling to engage with arguments about trade deals and economic subsidies that lack relatable human stories or chime with any personal experience. Instead, we’re simply lining up behind whoever seems to us most normal. | This 2016 referendum looks set to be the moment the British people finally gave up even pretending they were listening to the detail. The issues are so dense and complicated; we are struggling to engage with arguments about trade deals and economic subsidies that lack relatable human stories or chime with any personal experience. Instead, we’re simply lining up behind whoever seems to us most normal. |
| So this is the key issue of principle as I see it. If I voted leave, I’d be agreeing with Nigel Farage, George Galloway, Michael Gove, Bernie Ecclestone and Joan Collins. That clinches it, doesn’t it? And isn’t there an unassailable moral and economic argument that we must always do the opposite of whatever Iain Duncan Smith wants us to do. I may not know what that is exactly; I may have failed to weigh up all the contrasting claims, but that’s only because the overwhelming sensation I experience is “Oh not bloody Farage AGAIN!” | So this is the key issue of principle as I see it. If I voted leave, I’d be agreeing with Nigel Farage, George Galloway, Michael Gove, Bernie Ecclestone and Joan Collins. That clinches it, doesn’t it? And isn’t there an unassailable moral and economic argument that we must always do the opposite of whatever Iain Duncan Smith wants us to do. I may not know what that is exactly; I may have failed to weigh up all the contrasting claims, but that’s only because the overwhelming sensation I experience is “Oh not bloody Farage AGAIN!” |
| When we vote in a general election, we can see how government policies have affected where we live; whether the ministers responsible have done enough on education, health and housing. But because for decades we have been deprived of any narrative about where European money is spent, or how those much-maligned “EU regulations” have actually made us safer or greener, we come to this decision grasping for relatable facts. And then we hear “Jim Davidson is for Brexit” and finally some deep primal response is triggered. | When we vote in a general election, we can see how government policies have affected where we live; whether the ministers responsible have done enough on education, health and housing. But because for decades we have been deprived of any narrative about where European money is spent, or how those much-maligned “EU regulations” have actually made us safer or greener, we come to this decision grasping for relatable facts. And then we hear “Jim Davidson is for Brexit” and finally some deep primal response is triggered. |
| Never before in British politics has the casting been so much more important than the script. Remain seems to have the backing of every impressive financial institution and expert. By contrast, last week on the Daily Politics Kate Hoey was asked to name one independent study that backed leave. She listed seven, all called “Er …”. | Never before in British politics has the casting been so much more important than the script. Remain seems to have the backing of every impressive financial institution and expert. By contrast, last week on the Daily Politics Kate Hoey was asked to name one independent study that backed leave. She listed seven, all called “Er …”. |
| Brexit also has the support of Islamic State and Vladimir Putin though I’m sort of presuming they weren’t at the same meeting. Ian Botham’s a leaver too. The quality of the Brexit supporters is so low, it’s alarming that the quantity isn’t lower. They have unappealing ambassadors, making a dreadful case via three rival groups – their poll ratings really ought to be plummeting through the floor. | Brexit also has the support of Islamic State and Vladimir Putin though I’m sort of presuming they weren’t at the same meeting. Ian Botham’s a leaver too. The quality of the Brexit supporters is so low, it’s alarming that the quantity isn’t lower. They have unappealing ambassadors, making a dreadful case via three rival groups – their poll ratings really ought to be plummeting through the floor. |
| The only vaguely popular person in the Brexit camp is Johnson. But there’s a big catch, for there isn’t a single person in the country that didn’t immediately clock that Johnson adopted his Brexit posture as a cynical move for the Tory leadership. And of course, even he seems less appealing after that “part-Kenyan” slur against Obama. | The only vaguely popular person in the Brexit camp is Johnson. But there’s a big catch, for there isn’t a single person in the country that didn’t immediately clock that Johnson adopted his Brexit posture as a cynical move for the Tory leadership. And of course, even he seems less appealing after that “part-Kenyan” slur against Obama. |
| It confuses the picture still further to see that half of the Conservative big beasts are playing to two different sets of voters – the great British public on one hand and the swivel-eyed little Englanders who make up most of their party membership on the other. So when Theresa May goes on TV to defend the EU, she uses the slot to say how membership makes it harder to curb immigration. | It confuses the picture still further to see that half of the Conservative big beasts are playing to two different sets of voters – the great British public on one hand and the swivel-eyed little Englanders who make up most of their party membership on the other. So when Theresa May goes on TV to defend the EU, she uses the slot to say how membership makes it harder to curb immigration. |
| Only George Osborne has truly tied his political fate to a victory for the remain side, and this leads to an uncomfortable sensation when those of us on the left find ourselves agreeing with him. “Well said, George, good point!” we exclaim at the TV, and then we feel disgusted with ourselves, running upstairs to the shower, plunging all our clothes into a boil wash. The discomfort is much the same when great pillars of capitalism such as the Bank of England or the International Monetary Fund come down firmly on our side. “See, that’s the IMF talking,” we say. “They’ve always been on the side of the ordinary British worker.” | Only George Osborne has truly tied his political fate to a victory for the remain side, and this leads to an uncomfortable sensation when those of us on the left find ourselves agreeing with him. “Well said, George, good point!” we exclaim at the TV, and then we feel disgusted with ourselves, running upstairs to the shower, plunging all our clothes into a boil wash. The discomfort is much the same when great pillars of capitalism such as the Bank of England or the International Monetary Fund come down firmly on our side. “See, that’s the IMF talking,” we say. “They’ve always been on the side of the ordinary British worker.” |
| Is it wrong to make decisions on the basis of personalities? I don’t think so. Democratic politics has always been about trust and delegation. We vote for politicians hoping they know more about what needs to be done than we do, assessing their values, their priorities and indeed their likability. | Is it wrong to make decisions on the basis of personalities? I don’t think so. Democratic politics has always been about trust and delegation. We vote for politicians hoping they know more about what needs to be done than we do, assessing their values, their priorities and indeed their likability. |
| So in a mind-boggling referendum debate, it’s understandable that we should do the same. In fact, I think we should stop feeling guilty about this approach and just embrace it. The ballot paper should just feature two photos: one of Obama, the other of Galloway, perhaps dressed in his pussycat leotard from Celebrity Big Brother. | So in a mind-boggling referendum debate, it’s understandable that we should do the same. In fact, I think we should stop feeling guilty about this approach and just embrace it. The ballot paper should just feature two photos: one of Obama, the other of Galloway, perhaps dressed in his pussycat leotard from Celebrity Big Brother. |