Thread by @OwenJones84

I am beyond bored of people who did literally nothing to campaign for Remain in the actual referendum campaign calling me a raging Brexiteer, or even blaming me for Brexit (!)

The only reason this is interesting is reflects an attitude that doomed the post-2016 Remain movement.

During the referendum campaign, I used my platform to consistently support Remain, and to attack Vote Leave's horrific campaign.

Above all else, I pitched my argument towards those who, like myself, had huge criticisms of the EU.

3 weeks before the referendum, for example, I pitched towards sceptical Labour voters on the basis workers' rights were threatened.

I travelled the country making the case for Remain and Reform, again, pitching my argument towards those who had criticisms of the EU.

Sounds a little boastful I know, but one video I did before the vote - explaining why I, as a critic of the EU wanted other critics of the EU to vote Remain - was one of the top 10 most watched Facebook videos in the entire referendum campaign.

facebook.com/watch/?v=10154…

A few days before the referendum, I recorded a video predicting Leave would win, and setting out the disastrous consequences, which unfortunately pretty much all happened

As it happens, during the referendum campaign, the official Remain campaign suggested people like myself had a specific utility in trying to convince others who were critical of the EU to vote Remain.

After the referendum campaign, when we lost, I believed we needed to accept the result and make it work.

It was this point some people who didn't campaign for Remain in the referendum, shellshocked by a result they didn't try and stop, became very active.

Many Remainers after 2016 were committed, principled campaigners who believed Brexit was a national tragedy.

But there were some - who were particularly loud and vocal - who tried to turn Remain into an angry online cult looking for traitors not converts.

For this faction of Remainers, anybody who doesn't want to paint their face with the EU flag was essentially a Farage lover.

They particularly focus on a piece I wrote in 2015 in which I argued the left should debate the case for leaving, which I coined Lexit.

This was a mainstream discussion on the left at the time: indeed, some went further than me, including Ian Dunt, who later set up a podcast called Remainiacs.

I hope he won't mind me saying, but he approached me to set up a leftwing eurosceptic movement.

Ian Dunt changed his mind - and guess what, people are allowed to change their mind!

In my case, I retained my criticisms of the EU - and still do - but believed Remain and Reform was a better option than Leave.

The problem was some of the people who joined the Remain movement only after Remain had been defeated is they became angrier, cult-like and more intolerant, not just towards Leave supporters but Remainers who were sceptical about not accepting the referendum result.

While there were good faith Remainers, some saw the issue as a convenient means to undermine the Labour leadership, a point made to me by Gloria de Piero, who hails from the Blairite faction but represented a Leave community and lost patience with ultra Remainers.

It could have been different! We could have united after the result around arguing for a softer Brexit - my own preference - or the official Remain movement could have focused their time convincing Leave voters. They instead spent a lot of time yelling at Labour!

In my case, being told you are something you are not is a bit tedious, though I'm long resigned to it - but above all else, the post-2016 official Remain movement should consider the mistakes it made.

Or just ignore that and keep yelling at me, your call!

I do apologise, Femi did do something in the referendum campaign.

He was randomly vox popped in the street by a reporter.

Meanwhile the rest of us put our heart and soul into campaigning for Remain when it actually mattered!

https://twitter.com/femi_sorry/status/1476560338334138372