,
182 tweets,
35 min read
Read on Twitter
This from a Vote Leave staffer got me thinking [THREAD] 
It’s fascinating the praise & reward Cameron got for winning the AV Independence referendums /1
I don’t recall critiques from Tory Brexiters of Cameron behaviour during those votes /2
But to start our story proper just focusing on the 2016 referendum /3
And in the 4 decades that followed lots of myths developed /5
And the abuse he received “f*** off back paddyland you f****** IRA c***” /9
legalcheek.com/2016/06/univer…
legalcheek.com/2016/06/univer…
Still at least in those days Boris could earn enough ££ to support himself /12
independent.co.uk/voices/boris-j…
independent.co.uk/voices/boris-j…
Funny it’s not far off the £143k he earned as London mayor /13
Maybe Boris will be the first job share PM / “journalist” /15
Anyway back to the referendum /16
Then two factions who bitterly detested each other fought for prominence /17
No not leave and remain /18
But vote leave and Leave.EU /19
These two factions desperate to get official designation /20
1. On being unrepresentative /22
2. On its support for a second referendum /23
3. On its lack of respect for campaign finance rules /24
4. on individuals with questionable backgrounds /25
5. On conflicts of interest /26
It contained the toxicity of Nigel Farage away from the “official” campaign /28
dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3…
dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3…
Of course these two factions still worked together (see Brexit: A very British coup) /30
leave.eu/brexit-british…
leave.eu/brexit-british…
As Boris of course played career self interest in his choice of Leave /31
independent.co.uk/news/uk/politi…
independent.co.uk/news/uk/politi…
Vote Leave had deep insights into the Remain campaign /32
Conservative MPs and SPADs brought insights into how to combat Remain /33
From Cameron/Osborne general election tactics & AV / IndyRef campaigns /34
Brexit biased newspapers by number and by reach /36
reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/…
reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/…
It highlighted coverage of experts, politicians and leave vs remain /37
So you work up a campaign that exploits the aftermath of global financial crash /38
EU and immigrants a handy scapegoat from Con policy & austerity choices /39
As even those horrible global elite IMF and economists warned of austerity impact /40
independent.co.uk/voices/conserv…
independent.co.uk/voices/conserv…
On schools a U.K. population boom in early 2000s and poor HMG policy /41
independent.co.uk/news/education…
independent.co.uk/news/education…
On housing /42
And also on wages - weirdly other countries with free movement fare better than U.K. /52
independent.co.uk/news/business/…
independent.co.uk/news/business/…
Jacob Rees Mogg with his “uplifting” view on food banks & Tory deceit at the causes of usage /54
trusselltrust.org/news-and-blog/…
trusselltrust.org/news-and-blog/…
Or Rees Mogg’s dream of how well the Conservative party handles “complex systems” with “routine competence” /56
jacobreesmogg.com/immigration/
jacobreesmogg.com/immigration/
OBR in 2010 net migration of 140,000 a year feeding into growth assumptions /57
channel4.com/news/factcheck…
channel4.com/news/factcheck…
So either Rees Mogg's party didn't manage public spending to match immigration IT ALLOWED /58
Or Rees Mogg's party deliberately didn’t manage spending & instead scapegoated immigrants /59
Conservative party on the "underresourced" UK Border Force patrol vessels /61
ukdefencejournal.org.uk/uk-border-forc…
ukdefencejournal.org.uk/uk-border-forc…
Conservative party raising fines on drivers - penalties x3 & no of fines +50% /62
kentonline.co.uk/dover/news/fin…
kentonline.co.uk/dover/news/fin…
Anyway enough of Rees Mogg & his “competent” Party /63
Here’s when Theresa May sacked border force chief for Tory policy failures /64
theguardian.com/uk/2011/nov/15…
theguardian.com/uk/2011/nov/15…
Here yet more evidence /67
So Dominic Cummings made it clear the intent in Vote leave tactics /70
thelondoneconomic.com/news/vote-leav…
thelondoneconomic.com/news/vote-leav…
And then you have so many other fascinating campaign elements /74
On a student strangely getting £625,000 /75 independent.co.uk/student/news/v…
On Steve Baker’s view on electoral finance law & front organisations /78
dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3…
dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3…
On yet more revelations of baker /78.5
On Arron Banks /79.5
theguardian.com/politics/2017/…
theguardian.com/politics/2017/…
13,000 pro brexit twitter bots /82.5 buzzfeed.com/jamesball/a-su…
So stuck between “part-Kenyan” Obama with his “ancestral dislike” of U.K. /83
independent.co.uk/news/uk/politi…
independent.co.uk/news/uk/politi…
Of course it’s all those remoaners talking the country down or newspapers not reporting “patriotically” huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/bbc-this…
Or the Leader of the House parroting similar nonsense huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/andrea-l…
Ironically Antarctica - sorry the EU with growing economies and demand helping the U.K. /90
voxeu.org/article/new-su…
voxeu.org/article/new-su…
Strangely Daily Telegraph was quite different tone at start 2016 /92
telegraph.co.uk/finance/econom…
telegraph.co.uk/finance/econom…
On upset Leave voters on the red bus /94
independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-n…
independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-n…
Of course we could mention Dominic Cummings in the deliberate lie and red bus tactic /95.5 huffingtonpost.co.uk/jason-farrell/…
Immigration and the red bus - key themes
Bernard Jenkin assured voters Vote Leave were able to make promises on government policy /101
bbc.in/1ZO0dnf
bbc.in/1ZO0dnf
Vote leave eager to disenfranchise voters /102
telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/06/0…
telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/06/0…
The Conservative Party that failed to honour a manifesto pledge to enfranchise UK citizens /103
telegraph.co.uk/expat/expatnew…
telegraph.co.uk/expat/expatnew…
The demonisation and vitriol at civil servants/ministers over purdah /104
ukandeu.ac.uk/the-purdah-con…
ukandeu.ac.uk/the-purdah-con…
The defection of Conservatives who called out the lies of vote leave /105
amp.theguardian.com/politics/2016/…
amp.theguardian.com/politics/2016/…
This leave conservative admitted the lies post-vote and wants to remain in single market /107
theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
Until even he snapped and came as close to calling Leave liars as he could /109
huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/david-ca…
huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/david-ca…
Of course leave campaigners felt no such restraint in branding Cameron liars /110
theguardian.com/politics/2016/…
theguardian.com/politics/2016/…
Tory MPs & use “project fear” hyperbole for Remain concerns or warnings /111
newstatesman.com/politics/stagg…
newstatesman.com/politics/stagg…
Michael Gove hadn’t had enough of his “fellowship of experts” whilst a minister strangely /114
civilserviceworld.com/articles/news/…
civilserviceworld.com/articles/news/…
Michael Gove did like to praise experts at election time “fantastic”, “fair” & “independent” /115
huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/ifs-prop…
huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/ifs-prop…
Telegraph calling IFS "Britain's most respected economic forecaster " /117
telegraph.co.uk/news/general-e…
telegraph.co.uk/news/general-e…
Then you come to the two current main party leaders /119
Theresa May of course clear to Goldman Sachs but in public less so /120
theguardian.com/politics/2016/…
theguardian.com/politics/2016/…
And Labour spin on Corbyn to rebut critique of Alan Johnson & others /122
mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/j…
mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/j…
Labour voters actually held up better for remain compared to Conservatives /123
theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
Doesn’t stop Corbyn’s use as a scapegoat for remain failure though /124
A reminder project fear vs reality. This thread USA attitude to the global influence of U.K. - like a “coffin” /125
Has a good quote on topic of Bombardier that is appropriate. /126
Cameron & others brought chocolate spoons to a knife fight. /127
Could Cameron have descended to level of Leave campaign lies and tactics? /128
Could Cameron have shouted louder? /130
Politicians & biased press would have proclaimed it as desperate project fear, elites or unneeded experts /131
Cameron was trapped in his own construct of tactics from previous referendum /132
Cameron was trapped with no repeat of “The Vow” from Scotland /133
Could Cameron been honest on Eu/non-Eu immigration given his party’s use of it as scapegoat ? /134
politico.eu/article/how-da…
politico.eu/article/how-da…
Of course Remain appealed to emotion albeit different ones and differently than Leave /136
bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politi…
bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politi…
Was there any tactic/theme Cameron could have used that would not been easily deflected by vote leave? /138
Or could Cameron have imitated Vote Leave’s tactics - if so which? /139
And if he had and won by 52-48 can you imagine the justified concerns Vote Leave would have raised /140
The only surprise with media bias & campaign use of bus, Turkey, terrorism & refugee crisis’ Remain didn’t lose by more /141
As the con of the red bus and “they need us more than we need them” become ever clearer /142
As the desperate rationale of we knew it was going to be bad, it’s a price worth paying whatever it is /143
standard.co.uk/news/uk/six-in…
standard.co.uk/news/uk/six-in…
Still at least now the county isn’t divided into leavers & remainers - it’s now optimistic realists, traitors or saboteurs /144
Perhaps another general election is needed to crush the saboteurs & strengthen UK gov hand /145
Or perhaps just to crush & convert all to patriotic non-dissenting optimistic realism /146
Keynes called this “a masterful manipulation” /147 ft.com/content/1a9f7e…
Just imagine if Cameron had done a fraction of the lies, deceit and false promises for a Remain victory /148
Imagine how people would be complaining at a 52-48 result /149
They might be planning a second referendum - from 9/6/2016 /151
There would certainly be legal or parliamentary challenges from Mogg, Bone & other Tories /153
But not to worry on 14th June 2016 Boris and Gove promised they had written a plan. /155
telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/06/1…
telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/06/1…
Roll on 15 months later and this plan has 10 expertly detailed points /156
telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/09/1…
telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/09/1…
Let’s take each of these in turn /157
No 1 - the lie of the red bus rides again /158
No2 - Theresa May has already confirmed many EU programmes that the U.K. wants access to /159
No 3. Is that the ditching of “tens of thousands”? The U.K. already less appealing to migrants /161
No 5 in free trade/protectionist measure Britain is ranked #29 (between Chile & Poland) - USA is #42 /163 iccwbo.org/publication/ic…
No 6 here bursting the delusion that Commonwealth nostalgia can replace EU /164 telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopic…
No 7 is a goal or target not a plan on how to achieve. /165
No 8 an ironic about turn from Boris here “I want to encourage it” /166 bbc.co.uk/news/uk-englan…
No 9 sounds terribly like Ed Miliband or Jeremy Corbyn /167
No 10 ironic given the damage to EU science relations that has been done /168 nature.com/gt/journal/v24…
Cameron was fucked in a prison of his own construct, behaviour & choices /169
There is no other Remain senior Tory who could have fared any better than Cameron /170
None who could have managed breaking free from the web of years of Tory lies and xenophobic spin mongering /172
A different labour leader might have shifted a few more Labour / left voters /173
But what the Leader of the Labour Party could have done differently is a different question /174
I would recommend in conclusion the alternate history WW2 series of Harry Turtledove featuring extraterrestrial lizards aliens /end
unroll
