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A short thread on illegal behaviour during the referendum campaign
1. It's absolutely true that illegal behaviour was found by the courts on the Leave side. Their actions were categorically wrong. The rules matter and the rule of law matters. It makes defeat more bitter.
1. It's absolutely true that illegal behaviour was found by the courts on the Leave side. Their actions were categorically wrong. The rules matter and the rule of law matters. It makes defeat more bitter.
2. I didn't emphasise this starting point on a podcast I did yesterday, and I should have done. Not least because I regard the whistleblowers as brave and courageous people whom I respect and admire--as well as having regard for the principles.
3. Nonetheless, it is still important to recognise that more resources and institutions were in support of Remain, and yet they still failed. The Leave side's actions shouldn't obscure or excuse Remain's failures.
4. Remain's failure was two-fold: a) it was led by the PM & CX meaning it became a vote of the general status-quo b) it was so ignorant of how bad the status quo was that it ended up with a central campaign message that was not true (don't risk the economic recovery)
5. This isn't about false equivalence. Boiling down the whole vote to Leave to cheating is misleading and damaging. It obscures the very real structural problems it exposed in politics, society and the economy.
6. And it obscures the much longer-term deceit: politicians passing off unpopular decisions made in Westminster as instructions received from Brussels. The Leave campaign was the tip of the spear of 30 years of lies and deceit.
7. You can all scream at me now, if it will make you feel better, though I've been a passionate pro-European my whole adult life. Good luck.
