Back to Top

Category: Brexorcism

The Brexit Psyche

Changing Minds on Brexit

This article in The Guardian is being shared widely by Rejoiners at the moment. It is a good piece of academic analysis. Yet I have some problems with a couple of the points it makes (I guess that’s unsurprising!!). It’s a long piece, so buckle yourself in for a long ride. Here’s what I really like about the piece:

Consonance

The article correctly states that the Brexit mindset is a complex interwoven set of beliefs (coalitions within coalitions) that keep getting reinforced by our populist media. I articulated this via my ‘Brexit Brain’ model below. Quite why I coined the phrase ‘Brexorcism‘ to describe the complex quasi-religious mindset change process in the book Reboot Britain.

“It’s really hard. We see tremendous stability over very long periods of time. A choice like Brexit provides endless stimuli to feed that brain activity. It’s coalitions within coalitions within coalitions…”   Darren Schreiber.

The Brexit Brain
The Brexit Brain – Read more by clicking the brain.

Thus, normal approaches to change management are not valid: ‘Carrots and sticks; are often used to change simple levels of behaviour and performance at work. For example, if you pay people more, they might work harder for a while. Put them under threat, they may also work harder, go on strike, work less or leave the company etc. But changing Kwasi-religious beliefs such as Brexit is a whole different ball game. It’s not a rational choice as the Guardian article rightly explains.

Whole brained change

I advocate a blend of so-called left (more analytical) and right brained (more emotional) thinking to reach deep into the Brexit psyche of my ‘clients’, what is known as a ‘hearts and minds’ approach in business consulting circles. Using hard hitting emotional headlines to grab people by the heart and longer more analytical approaches to ensure that their heads fall in line with their hearts. The dual approach is epitomised in the book Private Eyelines, a book targeted at leave voters to help them understand how they were lied to. p.s. DO NOT buy the book on Amazon. I get a £2.00 royalty on a sale of £32.99 for six months work, as Amazon keep all the profits!  Whilst I don’t write books as an income source, I also don’t write them to boost Amazon’s profits. If you wish to buy a copy direct at an author’s discount, talk to me direct via reboot@brexitrage.com. By the way the left-right brain divide has been questioned but the idea of whole brain thinking (analytical and emotional) is a handy notion to help us think about the need to reach head and heart.

“A man with a conviction is a hard man to change. Tell him you disagree and he turns away. Show him facts or figures and he questions your sources. Appeal to logic and he fails to see your point.” Leon Festinger.

Another truism in the article is the belief that all leave voters are unresponsive to dialogue, thick or closed. This reveals itself in oft quoted statements by some Remainers, who say things like “You can’t educate pork”, “I’ve tried everything” and “They are thick as mince”. Truth be told, some Remainers lack the skills, patience and time to conduct effective Brexorcisms. Also it really matters who you choose as your ‘client’. There really is no point working on a ‘Nigel Farage type hardcore Brexiters’ but many leave voters are not hard leavers. Selection of your targets is key, both in terms of where they sit on the Remain – Leave continuum and to what extent they are key opinion formers for others who follow their views.

“When you pathologise the other side, there’s no point in reaching out to them” Brian Hughes.

Relationship and rapport is key

The article goes on to say something terribly important. “If there is a way through this, he suggests, it is to break down the myths of us and them.”  A successful Brexorcism only operates on the basis of a strong relationship and a basic bond of trust. If you are going to challenge beliefs, you need a massive ‘bank balance’ of relationship power to succeed. This is why Steve Bray and his cult have changed very few minds by ‘shouting at people’ in Parliament, upsetting sympathetic media people into the process. In case of doubt, I started on the street with Steve at No 10 Vigil. He quickly spotted that the real action was at Parliament instead of Downing Street and set up a splinter group. Later on, I tried to gain him a permanent platform with other figures at Channel 4 News which he rejected. Of course, Steve’s activities outside the House of Commons have other functions. However, his finest moments were when he quietly but firmly ask politicians difficult questions using a Socratic style and a ‘servant leadership’ approach. But everything counts. We need to use all the therapeutic communication styles as discussed by John Heron in Reboot Britain. Social settings such as cafes, pubs etc. are often more helpful than formal settings, hence my comments about the sauna below, although the sauna is not the only environment in which you can change someone’s mind about Brexit!

In the article, Carol Tavris confirms the view that ‘consonance’ or rapport is vital as a starting point for a successful Brexorcism. The conversation is a healthy mixture of what Comms people call ‘pull’ and ‘push’ strategies or what musicians and psychologists call consonance and dissonance. Finding some common ground is extremely important or giving away trivial wins in order to build a connection. One of the difficulties I notice in some activists is their fundamentalist need to ‘win’ all the arguments with leave voters. It’s better to let them have some small wins in the dance of Brexorcism.

“When we argue with somebody about their beliefs, the absolute crucial thing to avoid is making them feel foolish. If you say something like, ‘How could you be so stupid?’, that will almost always make your listener become even more committed to their belief. If you say instead, ‘Well, many of my own expectations turned out not to be the case too’, that might be a place to start.”

Dissonance

The Guardian article suggests that we must fully convert people to become Rejoiners. This is akin to a religious conversion or what I call a 360-degree Brexorcism. This is fundamentally incorrect. All we need to deliver as a ‘MVP‘ (Minimum Viable Product” is to move people from the idea that Brexit is a good idea towards ambivalence or doubt about the value of Brexit, a 180-degree Brexorcism. This is a much easier task. This converts in behavioural terms to people not voting in another referendum / General Election to support a Brexit party or possibly voting for a pro-Rejoin party to balance out their previous vote. Obviously a full conversion to the cause would be a much stronger position but, as the article points out, it is much more difficult. This is like trying convert a moderate Christian to Islamic fundamentalism when we only need to go as far as agnosticism, not even atheism.

Our approach to Brexorcism has validation from low-profile approaches to change which were reported on by the BBC some while back. A Brexorcism blends ideas from psychology, sociology, anthropology and therapeutic interventions. People who tell me that you cannot change the minds of Brexit voters simply have not understood the fundamentals of Brexorcism which requires large doses of skill, patience and time. I’m offering a free masterclass on the topic for North Hertfordshire for Europe on Sunday November 19th at 5.00 pm via ZOOM. Contact me to reserve your place. I am also willing to give keynotes and masterclasses on our UK tour to develop a cadre of Brexorcists. This is vital if we are to move the dial faster on Brexit regret by a General Election.

.

Brexorcism unplgged
Brexorcism

The will of the people has changed

My other major beef with the article is that it suggests that “though there is some anecdotal and polling evidence that there has been a shift in sentiment, and that remain might now prevail, the same polls show very little appetite to reopen the question.”  This is incorrect on two levels:

There has been a seismic shift from 4% to 24% of people that believe that Brexit has failed. By 2024 it is quite feasible that 70% of people will believe that Brexit has failed. At that point politicians will no longer be able to look the other way.

Brexit has failed

Whilst it’s true that there is currently no appetite to reopen the Brexit question, this is merely a feature of where we have got to in the cycle. Also, of course, a sense of foreboding that another referendum would re-open all the family feeds / social angst and so on. However, another bloody referendum is not the only way to settle the matter. It is also quite certain that not opening up the difficult question will mean that the wounds of Brexit will remain with us for generations to come. Some kind of healing could actually take place with a grown-up recognition that Brexit has failed and that rejoining the EU is both possible and desirable. There is an embedded assumption that we MUST do this via a referendum. It ain’t necessarily so. See this article for London for Europe and Reboot Britain on the choices we face.

Myths and Riffs of Brexit

I note that the last remaining Brexiters are putting forward a number of myths to silence debate. Sadly some remainers also buy into these myths due to learned helplessness. For example:

We’ll have to have the Euro

We’ll have to have Schengen

The EU will reject our application

And so on.

See our article for Bylines Myths and Riffs of Brexit for a fuller exposition on these myths.

‘Learned helplessness’ on the part of Remainers plays into a passive acceptance of the idea that Brexit is done and it cannot be undone. This is the belief that we don’t deserve to join anew as it might be considered anti-democratic etc. However, a referendum won through fraud, fake social media ads and which was judged illegal by the Supreme Court had it been mandatory is not the high-water mark of democracy. Leavers were not satisfied by a super majority (67.2% on a 64% turnout) in the initial referendum to join the EU in 1975. Nor should we.

Learned Helplessness
Learned Helplessness summed up. We must not subscribe to it.

Indonesia – our structural deficit

Learned helplessness prevails in a vacuum of leadership and a lack of coherent strategy. Whilst the Remain movement was relatively united in the summer of 2019 after a number of victories, the 2019 election fragmented people again along political party lines. There are now as many proposals on how we rejoin as there are pundits. I describe the organisational structure of the Remain movement as being like Indonesia i.e. 17 000 islands and a few bigger ones. But all operating independently. The bigger beasts such as the European Movement compete with other actors such as Best for Britain. Others prefer to plough their own furrow. Some have been asleep at the wheel, calling for Remainers to make the most of Brexit. Yet, the only good Brexit is a dead Brexit. The consequence of being ‘Indonesia’ is that we find it hard to do things at scale. Fragmentation of strategy / structure and poor leadership also mean that we spend as much time arguing internally about strategy as we do in acting on Brexit and Rejoin. I set out five goals which we coalesce around on a monthly basis. It ain’t perfect but we do our best to provide clarity and collaborative leadership across a group of people from Europe. Join us some Mondays at 8 pm UK time via ZOOM. See also our article on Strategies to Join EU anew.

Indonesia
17 000 islands. A few bigger ones.

Five Goals
Five goals to join anew.

Not fade away

One specific point in the article which is not quite correct is the mention of BBC Question Time’s Brexit special event in Clacton. The journalist stated that the audience was made up entirely of those who voted leave. He went on to suggest that this was presumably to ensure the debate would not simply descend into an all-too familiar slanging match. We actually attended the event and talked with people on the street in Clacton. Levels of ‘Bregret’ were widespread in Brexity Clacton outside the event. They were also quite easy to get from people who realised that they had been taken for fools. The Brexit voting audience were also happy to speak with us after the event and many were of the view that Brexit had failed and that they were lied to. It is therefore a mistake to assume that all Brexiters attending BBC QT are now fully committed to Brexit.

This was mirrored in Brexit voting Deal the other week and on BBC Any Questions in Tory voting Southend on 17 August 2023, where the audience failed to applaud any of the statements made by the Tory panel member. Having been at the centre of some extreme nastiness by Brexiters, including the ex Met Policeman who issued threats of violence, spray painted my house and attended with a knife, I observe from Brexit voting Kent that the slanging matches have largely subsided. However, the article is correct when it infers that the products of Brexit won’t go away by not talking about it. See our Brexit iceberg below. Like it or loathe it, Brexit is the smelly dump and stain in the toilet bowel of life that won’t flush.

The Brexit Iceberg
The Brexit Iceberg.

Brexit will continue to traumatise a generation if we do not burst the boil of Brexit one way or another. I believe in facing problems rather than sweeping them under political carpets. Labour in particular will be culpable for assisting the tragedy of Brexit if they continue to look away. Much in the way that the vast majority of good German people were silenced through fear during Hitler’s populist uprising. Fence sitting on Brexit is assent.

“The Tories will crow about Brexit being done. The Labour frontbench will solemnly observe that past tense, and avoid the B-word, as if it is a triggering trauma for the party and the country, best left undisturbed.”

Brexit is the smelly dump and stain in the toilet bowl of life that won’t flush

Lost consonance

As an aside, I found the opening paragraph about ‘Brexit hard man’ Steve Baker an unusual lead into the Guardian piece. I saw Mr Baker’s attempt to draw sympathy from the public to be a calculated attempt to humanise him as a piece of electioneering and not a window on his tortured Brexit soul. No decent Christian would agree with the human principles on which Brexit is founded. Like everything else with Brexit, it’s just another set of illusions. For example, The European Research Group (ERG) does no research. The weaponisation of asylum seekers to appeal to racists and people with feeble minds is not what Jesus would have done. and so on. Baker uses his faux Christianity as a shield and has now turned into a snowflake to gain sympathy from his constituents using the Brexit confessional box. Baker’s so called mental illness, beard growth and acne were mobilised as excuses. Krishnan Guru-Murphy’s analysis was correct when he pointed out that Baker was a C…nt.

Baker explained “I felt repugnant, hateful, to blame for all of the troubles that we had, absolutely without any joy, constantly worried about everything to the point of mental torment. A constant state of panic attacks and anxiety”. So he should, for all the pain he has inflicted on our children and those having anxiety, depression and lost careers / jobs / livelihoods due to Brexit. In fact, Baker should be in jail alongside Rees-Mogg who promised us cheap training shoes, Farage who promised a boom in fish and chips and Johnson who said that Brexit would make my wife’s breasts bigger. I’ve checked several times. They haven’t.

Please support our UK Brexorcism Tour

Join us with BBC’s Jonty Bloom 07 Sept Brighton

Brexit's Breaking Britain

Changing minds on Europe

Charles Radley is mounting a campaign to persuade some MPs to change to a pro-EU party (e.g. Lib-Dem, Green, SNP, Plaid Cymru). First we are targeting those Labour constituencies where the MP is known to be pro-EU and where a pro-EU party came second in 2024. But we plan to do much more in terms of lobbying MPs across Britain with books and other resources. Can you help? Please fill in the questionnaire at this Google forms link so we can organise our campaigning most effectively. Thanks !

Brexit Hannibal Lecter Starmer 2024

The only good Brexit

This piece was first written in 2024. It’s still as relevant (perhaps more so) under the Brexit Labour Trump Government … The only good Brexit … is a dead Brexit … it has become painfully clear that Brexit has not delivered any of the so-called freedoms, nor solved any of Britain’s problems or opened up opportunities of equivalent or better value when compared with our previous membership of the ‘club’. Read Rejoin EU: Reboot Britain for more on this. Better still, mail copies of the book to MPs or support our project to do so.

Even the Financial Times find it necessary to court proven liars such as Matthew Elliot in their recent film on the subject. Elliot attempts to make the argument that Brexit has not delivered because our mainstream politicians are not willing to seize opportunities, but then fails to identify any. It’s a thinly disguised argument to invite the Brexit ultras to the table, and with it, full fat fascism to Little Britain. Watch the FT film at the end of this article. Before that, watch this two minute short piece which sums up what Brexit was really about. My film is devoid of academic references as these tend to need much more time, but the supporting facts and validation can be found at the accompanying article Populism will eat itself.

Music soundtrack by Peter Cook. Available on Bandcamp with all proceeds going towards our campaign.

The film has already produced a visceral reaction from a leave voter who has clearly been affected by the film’s dystopian machine-styled soundtrack (deliberate) and the speed / brevity of the messages. He appears to have been somewhat triggered by the experience, which is good. Sadly, ‘Alan the Hat’ has no collateral in terms of his own research, content etc. Nor does he have any followers on his You Tube channel. I aim to provide a good (free) service and admittedly packed a lot of text into two minutes. Alan clearly has problems reading big words and sentences that are more difficult than “the cat bit the dog”, so I have provided a summary of the points below so he may study them in greater detail.

Tory gaslighting on an industrial scale fuelled Brexit. It continues via a daily stream of dead cats to take people off the scent of Brexit. Examples incude the need to incarcerate legal migrants, identity politics, constant scandals etc.

Brexit delivered 4.5% GDP LOSS into perpetuity and a broken NHS which Boris Johnson promised to fix, with the fabled £350 million per week on the bus. Brexit has damaged our resilience as a nation and therefore our ability to settle strikes with public sector workers and so on. Growth is for the birds in such circumstances. We are once again the sick man of Europe.

Cost of living impacts have Brexit as a major contribution. Food inflation has reached 20% There are more to come once border checks come in later in 2024 … In the next 28 days we will see further inflation on goods imported from Europe and barriers to trade for exporters. See Brexit Inflation. The Brexiteers’ explanation of this is that Brussels are ‘punishing’ us. Get real, we are now no longer a member of the golf club hence there are associated costs and barriers. The Golf Club analogy I made in 2018 is prescient here:

Brexit Golf Club Analogy
We are now a third country. Membership had benefits.

Brexit has delivered broken businesses, broken promises, broken lives and broken livelihoods. It is not true to say that Brexit Breaks Britain as this implies that Brexit is done. It is not and I deliberately choose the phrase Brexit’s Breaking Britain as it is more accurate.

Brexit weaponised an increase in racial tension from Brexit extremists such as Patel, Braverman, Badenoch, Anderson, Gullis, Mordaunt, Mogg, Farage, Tice Truss et al. They are responsible for killing people seeking safety from warzones.

Brexit has meant broken promises to farmers, fishermen, police, teachers, social carers et al. As a small example, the British replacement for the Common Agricultural Policy does not compare in any way to what we had, faults and all. Listen to the farmer in the FT film below for more on his topic.

Perhaps one of the real reasons for Brexit is yet to materialise … ‘Singapore on Thames’ beckons, with the ‘sale of the century’ via SEZs and a return to a feudal society. If you want to understand what an SEZ is, read @EuropeanPowell’s explanation of what you are about to receive whilst you are being gaslit by tales of royal cancers and gender reassignment..

Extract from @EuropeanPowell’s work. Follow him on Twitter.

Brexit is not done per Boris Johnson’s lie of an ‘oven ready deal’. Impacts will continue for the next decade.

Liz Truss’ experiment in Brexonomics cost an uncool £70 billion and ruined young people’s hopes of home ownership in just 49 days. Just imagine what the Brexit hardcore could achieve.

Boris Johnson used COVID to literally ‘mask’ Brexit impacts … what I termed a ‘Britastrophe‘.

Britastrophe
Johnson must have jumped for joy when COVID hit. It was an opportunity to kill 30 000 OAPs in care homes whilst operating as a mass distraction for ‘getting Brexit done’. Click the image for more on our Britastrophe.

Brexit means a loss of freedom of movement, student exchange scheme and more travel friction / costs. All of this is self inflicted as part of our so-called democratic referendum.

Both the Tories and Labour are presently engaged in distraction, distortion and dead cattery, in their attempts to erase the mistake of Brexit and secure votes. Brexit has so far claimed five Prime Ministers. It will also claim Keir Starmer.

Brexit will continue to break Britain unless we Join the EU anew. We can do this. The door remains open and even The Telegraph are now recommending it.

All the while, Labour are asleep at the wheel of Brexit misfortune. Keir Starmer cannot deliver his transformation without recovering our resilience.

‘Stop the boats’ has failed. It was yet another dead cat to channel people’s anger in the Daily Mail / Excess. In any case, better answers to migration are available. See our immigration algorithm.

The damage of Brexit is cumulative and much of it irreversible. Labour’s talk of rejoining from 2032 is therefore disingenuous and despicable.

We are essentially Sunakered. Listen to our dialogue with James O’Brien on this point.

Do have a look at the FT film which overall gives a good coverage of the state of our Brexit nation. I am disappointed at the lack of fact checking of some of the statements by Matthew Elliot. Where the film falls short is in the area of leadership, preferring instead to look for incremental adjustments which will not address the elephant in the room. A few mealy mouthed journalists apologise for Keir Starmer’s “management by focus groups”. Peter Foster makes the error that, since nobody wants to talk about Brexit, it will go away as an issue dividing families. Perhaps he needs to study the psychology of ‘closure’ a bit more carefully. Sure, the word Brexit can be airbrushed out of public discourse and there has been a concerted effort by politicians on most sides to do so, but the ‘dark mark’ of Brexit will be left on society unless the issue is resolved. Resolution can come through a number of means and not just another referendum. As I said in 2019, “Let’s Talk About Brexit“, maybe the title of their film acknowledges this need. Martin Wolf comes out head and shoulders above the rest of the journos and politicos with an honest appraisal of the mess that we’re in. We do need to talk about Brexit. Conduct a Brexorcism today.

Worth 30 minutes of your time.

Don’t just take my word for it. Here’s Brexit in numbers from official Government figures and other trusted sources:

Books
Some of our books. Click the image to check them out on Amazon.

Check our article Dover and Out

Order leaflets to destroy the Tories

Buy us a coffee

Join us on Mon 8th April 8 pm via ZOOM

Finally, Marina Purkiss and Max Robespierre nail Keir Starmer in this pithy piece:

Orifice of Brexorcism

Emergency budget

Rachel Reeves’ financial statement aka emergency budget landed yesterday. Labour have abandoned their principles of support for those in most need in society. And yet, a simple remedy to our woes is at hand … to end Brexit and apply to Rejoin the EU immediately. Brexit is costing us £140 Million every year. Much more than the floor sweepings she is trying to hoover up from the poor, needy and vulnerable.

Worst of all, buggered by Brexit, Labour are forced to go with a begging bowl to TrumPutin. What transaction costs will Trump require to cut Labour a bit of slack? The price will be high for sure as transactional (trumpactional) negotiation is all that Trump understands.


Will we have to give in to the sale of the NHS?

Will Britain allow US crap food to be dumped on our kids?

Will Britain be expected to place further distance from Europe?

Will Britain have to withdraw support partially or wholly from Ukraine?

Reeves should know that by dealing with Trump, she is dealing with Putin.

There are better answers than kowtowing to psychopaths … Rejoin the EU, starting NOW.

Britain cannot indulge in full-on direct trade wars as we are now weakened by Brexit as we are now about as important as Panama. We can however be more creative than that, by indulging in what are known in the trade as “assymetric actions”. The most obvious one is applying to Rejoin the EU. We must also postpone the state visit. There are many other things that Trump wants to run his MAGA America First industry. We could simply redirect these resources to other countries. We are not stronger than Trump, but we can be cleverer. At this point in time Reeves and Starmer are in the “Chamberlain position”.

This is what lies ahead if Britain doesn’t stand up to Trumputin:

Labour’s Brexit Jurassic Theme Park.
Brexit Hannibal Lecter Starmer 2024
Brexit Hannibal Lecter Starmer 2024.
Your poor huddled masses, let’s club ’em to death. And get it over with and just dump ’em on the boulevard. Lou Reed.

Buy us a coffee (or more) via WISE, BACS, Go Fund Me etc. if you wish to help us do more.

Wise
Be wise
Lord Heseltine

Thank the Lords

We recently gained this endorsement for the book Reboot Britain from Lord Heseltine:

“Thank you for your letter of 19th February. I am glad you are undertaking this work which is both needed and timely”.

The Rt Hon the Lord Heseltine CH

Please send the book to MPs and influencers in advance of the Rejoin EU debate on March 24. Get copies at Amazon. Or get 60% author discount copies direct via reboot@brexitrage.com If you want us to send the books, please support us via PayPal, Go Fund Me or BACS via e-mail.

We are also planning some events to mark the debate. These need support as well. Give us our star back …


Rejoin EU

To Rejoin or not to Rejoin

Last week was a bit of a bumper ride. I attended the UK in a Changing Europe (UKICE) event in London on Tuesday, then Stella Creasy’s Labour For Europe event on Thursday. I also spoke with James O’Brien on Brexit Day 31 January !! We have also started some musical and activist projects. Settle in for a long read ….

Before we begin, We are supporting Robert McMaster’s petition to force a debate about Rejoining in Parliament. The petition had stalled at 69 000 signatures with virtually no activity. In just three days we restarted the flywheel, adding 13 000 to the total and more since. Please sign and share, then send copies of our book to MPs and influencers. 60% author discount copies for those who don’t wish to use Amazon via e-mail reboot@brexitrage.com

Watch our latest videos on the project:

UKICE event highlights

UK in a Changing Europe hosted an event with Sir John Curtice, Prof Anand Menon, Prof Catherine Barnard and Sarah Hall, hosted by the BBC’s Jo Coburn. Labour stayed away from the event which surprised me. Catherine Barnard began by confirming our own view that the problem with Brexit is political paralysis and suggested that lawyers would be happy to sort the ‘wiring’ out if the politicians ever developed backbones (my words, not hers). John Curtice explained why Labour are reluctant to move the Overton window to bring Brexit back into view, stating that a referendum would consume a lot of political energy. Our settled view is that if Labour don’t confront the Brexit elephant in the room, there will be no substantial growth and therefore no second term. Anand Menon suggested that there would not be sufficient time for any Rejoin benefits to flow through. I believe that this is based on the liberal elitist assumption that a referendum is needed and therefore a lot of time would be needed to orchestrate such a decision. Also, the strategic intent to rejoin would be sufficient to boost confidence in business and markets, so I beg to differ with courtesy Anand. Views like this from academics, prominent Remain figures such as Jon Danzig and ‘peaceful warriors’ play straight into Labour’s hands when they say that that nobody wants to go back through the arguments over rejoining. Yet we all know the polling data. Yes, people don’t want to go back through a lengthy national soul searching process again, but this assumes that one is needed. From my own research, I find that the vast majority of people would not be that troubled if Brexit were made to go away quickly and without fuss. We say, let Parliament do the job they are paid to do. A referendum may only be needed as a confirmatory step, and then a simple, short process with fully fact checked information. See Reboot Britain for the reasons we say this.

On the other side of the debate, I find that some Remainers unwittingly reinforce and mirror the views of Remoaners, some of whom have pathologised victimhood, as articulated by this view from one of our co-authors Paul Cawthorne:

Curtice importantly confirmed our view that the time is now to campaign for rejoin. The entire session is below on video. Although I took comfort from Catherine Barnard and John Curtice’s remarks, overall the tone of the debate was one of ‘learned helplessness’, perhaps informed by fears and fantasies about what the far right might do if Labour were to take decisive action to stem the flow of blood from Brexit rather than apply more bandages. Leadership is needed from Labour rather than followership aka management by driving through the rear view mirror. My question to the panel can be found at 1.05.47 ish onwards. I gave books to Jo Coburn and John Curtice and our 1:1 conversations were candid about the need for leadership rather than handing the country to Farage and his wolves.

Stella Creasy’s Labour In Europe Event

Undoubtedly Labour have not stooped to the depths of depravity that 14 years of Tory rule have delivered in terms of divide and conquer politics, austerity on steroids and victimisation of vulnerable people via Brexit on crack cocaine. So the Tories should have been an easy ‘support act’ for Labour to follow. Labour’s first moves in power have however been somewhat awkward, as brilliantly parodied by Larry and Paul. That said, we must not underestimate the difficult of turning a super tanker round mid ocean after 14 years of degradation with some people still on deck trying to lock the ship onto icebergs.

In Labour’s search for “growth by 1000 ameliorations” whilst ignoring the Brexit elephant in the room, they will find it difficult, dare we say impossible to deliver the levels of growth required to win a 2nd term in office. By the end of the evening, Stella Creasy seemed a little rattled by an audience of remainers for ‘going on about Brexit’. Possibly in a moment of sheer frustration, she brought up the bogey man of rule by Elon Musk if we did not ‘get over it’. She seemed somewhat irritated by the encounter and took me to task over my suggestion that Keir Starmer needed more confidence to take tough decisions. This was the essence of my question to Stella:

I stood for Parliament in 2024 against Labour. I say against but my candidacy was solely to split the Tory vote in a safe seat. I recommended that people vote for Labour at all Hustings events, something that political candidates don’t do. Having spoken with Labour MPs and MEPs I am told that Labour’s strategy will be to consider rejoining in 2032. When I explain to them that (a) all the Brexit damage will be complete by then (b) much of it will be irreversible like some chemical reactions and (c) since there is no appetite to discuss Brexit in 2024, no one will be able to connect their lived experience with Brexit as a contributory cause in 2032, Labour MPs agree with me that the idea of rejoining later is disingenuous at best. At the hustings Naushabah Khan (Labour) stated that Brexit did not come up on the doorstep in defence of Labour’s position. I agreed, stating that all the front of mind issues that did come up on the doorstep (Cost of Living, NHS, social care etc.) had at least one foot in Brexit as a contributory factor. I used the Brexit iceberg to illustrate my point. Nashabah did not challenge my analysis. The Conservatives and Labour passively colluded to move Brexit out of the Overton window in favour of its offspring.

Brexit Iceberg
Brexit Iceberg

Our internal sources tell us that Keir Starmer is naturally cautious and need a lot of support to make bold decisions. By fearing Farage, Starmer is “managing by driving through the rear view mirror” rather than leading. And when he says we won’t rejoin in his lifetime, he means his political lifetime. It may come soon without a little more risk taking. Perhaps this week’s incremental moves in Brussels are a kind of “national focus group” to test reactions. If nobody blinks, he moves another inch and so on. The right wing media and the Farage extremists have all cried “surrender” just because he went to Brussels at all … if that’s the reaction to an entirely trivial set of proposals, he may as well be hung for a sheep than a lamb. See sunk costs in the book.

I came away a little disheartened by the tone of the event which appeared to be telling us that ‘mum and dad knows best’. Although I would rather have open heart surgery without an anaesthetic than vote Reform UK, I came away with a strong understanding as to why others would. The more that people in Labour tried to defend the indefensible, the more toxic the comments became via the online chat. In hindsight, I think this dialogue may have been better handled in a real life event than on ZOOM, where feedback can go unheard and views build up like a pressure cooker. I was pleased however to see that my MP was brave enough to share my reactions to the event on social media and Nigel Farage is incandescent that Starmer signed a paper in the same building that Edward Heath used many years ago. Nigel really cares about the people of Britain of course but seems trapped by the iconography …

Naushabah Khan
My MP Naushabah Khan
Rejoin EU
Rejoin EU

Brexorcists in Chief

On Friday I had a dialogue with James O’Brien about the last Remaining Brexiteers. There are not many people flying the flag for Brexit now, some 11% in fact. They mostly now fall into two categories: The people who still believe that the EU is an unelected superstate and who vote for Nigel Farage (himself elected to the EU as an MEP!!) and the racists / xenophobes. Gone are the people who voted for Brexit to stick it to Cameron, the ones who believed in the £350 million on the bus, Mogg’s lies about cheap food and shoes and so on. Are we to die on a hill for these people with Keir Starmer? Here’s the interview with James:

Click to listen to LBC

We also wrote a new song in partnership with Paul Cawthorne in Italy. Brexit’s in the air is a rewrite of the Wet Wet Wet song – the band title is “Slightly Red” to reflect Labour’s current positioning. Don’t just graze on the website, download the track and support our work.

Click to download on Bandcamp

Farage: Make Shit Happen

Finally, we rewrote a Sham 69 song around the story of Nigel Farage’s nephew, convicted for upskirting in the Co-Op in Orpington. How bizarre.

Keep on keeping on

Keep sending hard copies of the Rejoin EU book to MPs, influencers etc. …

Press Release
Press Release
DEFORM UK Press Release.
Brexit Kills

Correcting Brexit Lies

I responded to a request to attend an event by my local council on the future of the area. At the same time I pointed out that Brexit remains a significant hold back factor to any notions of growth. To my surprise an old musical colleague replied. Bob is a superb keyboard player, but we sit on opposite sides of the Brexit debate. I nearly coughed my dinner up at some of the claimed benefits of Brexit and problems avoided by not being part of the world’s largest trading partner on our doorstep, so I made this short video to debunk the lies, falsehoods and so on. Watch the video in its entirety.

I find that replies on social media are often met with the Dunning Kruger effect so I resorted to a more personal medium. Bob seems lost and I tried to be gentle, but then again Bob is a straight talking guy. I hope he gets a copy of my book Private Eyelines as it corrects the fantasies of the Daily Mail / Express / Sun / Telegraph etc. Buy your copy direct to avoid Amazon’s rip off price.

Here’s how it began …

Bob was incensed by the video and has replied on YOU TUBE. It makes for interesting reading. Feel free to send Bob a comment!

We are putting together a wide-ranging case for Rejoining the EU. Please get in touch via email reboot@brexitrage.com with some details about yourself if you would like to be a co-author or signatory to the final submission. Join us on Monday 30 September 8pm UK time via ZOOM to find out more.

Four horsemen of the Brexit apocalypse

The Four Horsemen of the Brexit Apocalypse

I attended the local church hustings recently to face down lies from the Reform party and the Conservatives, who had fled the scene of the crime. Here are my answers to questions levied by the public. Click on You Tube to view. The whole hustings were two hours and this summary is the shortest I could make it with some annotations of the questions.

The film covers a wide range of issues and I’m available to answer others on request. More below on Food Banks.

I offer five key points of difference compared with the mainstream parties:

  • 100% independent so no party whips to obey. My stakeholders are our citizens.
  • Brexit must be ended as a priority. No-nonsense trying to “Make Brexit Work” or mealy mouthed accommodations which fail to address the elephant in the room. We stand to gain £140 BILLION per annum as a start from making a commitment to rejoin the EU. Money which can be spent on healing the damage of 14 years of Tory chaos. All talk of growth by other parties is vacuous nonsense without dealing with Brexit.
  • An acceleration of our efforts towards net zero and the climate crisis in general.
  • An immediate ceasefire in Gaza and a Northern Ireland styled dialogue to resolve the mess.
  • Reforms to our democracy, truth, trust and transparency in politics.

We have just been ranked as five stars by Stay European, above all the major parties. If you want to Rejoin EU in Gillingham and Rainham, please vote Independent.

Our outline manifesto can be found at MANIFESTO.

To support our project to remove a Tory, please go to “GO CAT“.

Stop the four horsemen … there may be more of them …
Elvis

Ask Elvis

I bumped into someone I used to know at open mic jam sessions the other week. I knew him as ‘shy Elvis’. A diffident individual who would only perform Elvis songs and then only after extensive rehearsal. At the time (maybe 10 years ago), he seemed intensely nervous and rather shy. He inhabited the persona of Elvis Presley with brylcreemed hair, sideburns and a rockabilly sense of fashion. Rooted in the 1950s but probably born in the late 70s or early 80s, he was something of an enigma.

I was in a local pharmacy where a much older Elvis was haranguing the local pharmacist. I could not help but listen as he had raised his voice considerably. It was clear that he was on a whole cocktail of medicines for anxiety, depression and a palette of what could be described as 21st century malaises. Several items of his medication were unavailable and the pharmacist was patiently explaining this to him. He was shouting “but I have to have medicine x, I have to have medicine y”. He became more aggressive towards the female pharmacist and she went off to investigate the possibility of securing supplies.

I interjected: “Hello Elvis”.

He did a double take. I reminded him about our acquaintance at jam sessions. He recognised me, so we had just a sliver of rapport.

I went on “Just to explain, she cannot get you the medicines as there are massive shortages due to Brexit”.

He barked back, having not really listened “I don’t care, I just want my drugs”.

I repeated calmly “Brexit is causing your shortages. She cannot help that”. The pharmacist had returned by that time and nodded privately to me.

Elvis then shouted again at her “I just came to get my drugs and I’m now getting a lecture about politics”.

I replied “I’m just trying to explain why you cannot get your medication”. The pharmacist nodded and then asked him to come back in a few days.

I would hazard an educated guess from my previous contact with “Elvis” that he probably voted for Brexit or perhaps did not vote at all and became cross that I had in effect connected his lived experience to the root cause of his problems. This is what we must do as part of a much longer Brexorcism process.

Keep asking Brexiteers difficult questions using every opportunity.

Learn how to do Brexorcisms here.

Be gentle with your subjects / victims. Some will be surprised or have no clue. Do take care. Some become angry when the truth bomb explodes.

For a bit of light relief, here’s my appearance on BBC 2’s Ask Elvis segment on the Steve Wright Show. This is NOT the same Elvis by the way.

We need you

General Election

There’s a lot to be done in the next six weeks in the run up to the General Election aka Independence Day. We have a one time opportunity to change the course of the future … this will not wait !! I am spreading my effort across a number of initiatives to meet several goals :

To remove the Tory majority and end the chaos of 14 years of Tory disaster capitalism jet propelled by Brexit.

To introduce more plurality in Parliament and make sure that Brexit and Joining the EU anew remains on the agenda.

To this end, we have several collaborative projects which you must join:

To get a minimum of 500 000 of our ABC (Anyone But Conservative) leaflets out to various constituencies. Please order yours NOW by mailing me at reboot@brexitrage.com Guide prices : 500 = £42, 2000 = £67, 5000 £100 etc. These are non-party campaigning leaflets, perfectly legal to use alongside regular campaigning. We need a small army of people to get these leaflets out. If you cannot deliver leaflets but want to get the Tories out, please send money so that we can buy the needed leaflets and resource distribution. By sponsoring others, you will get digital copies of the leaflet to use on social media and in other communications.

Support this project

We will support Helen Maguire on the ground and online in Epsom, Ewell and Leatherhead. The area is Chris “Failing” Grayling’s constituency and the new Tory candidate is a Trump supporter with a reliable track record of losing elections!! Having worked on the ground in Epsom, Ewell and Leatherhead for Gina Miller, I have determined that the area is a two horse race between The Lib Dems and one nation Tories. As such and having done some due diligence on the situation I can no longer support Gina Miller’s party in Epsom, as I believe it will split the vote to stop the Tories. To help the Lib Dems to win this seat in the blue wall on the ground, online or both, please mail me at reboot@brexitrage.com

Helen Maguire’s pitch.

I plan a meeting to discuss the GE at the Ewell Tap on Thursday May 30th. This is the same day as BBC Question Time.

We will support the Rejoin Party in Sidcup and Bexley and in other places where they are standing. Rejoin are fresh from a massive vote in the London Assembly Elections and will publish their target seats soon. Who’s in for this?

The Climate Party are a small party with an excellent strategy to target centre-right voters who are concerned about sustainable development and environment but with a pragmatic view of how Britain may seize the initiative from zero carbon politics. Ed Gemmill leads the party. They seek candidates and volunteers and are willing to pay the deposit for standing in July 4th. See Change the Climate. Ed is himself targeting “Brexit Hardman” Steve Baker’s constituency of High Wycombe, a worthy target for a man who has done so much damage to Britain. If you can help in target seats below, get in touch via info@theclimate.party We are especially interested in candidates in the following areas below but if you have vim and vigour, please apply anyway.

One mission, One vision.

Target Seats
Target Seats,

Maximise your vote in an unfair system by swapping it. It’s perfectly legal and decent in a broken FPTP system. Find our more at Swap My Vote.

Join us at 8 pm Monday 27 May on ZOOM via this link to discuss plans to change the course of history at the election.

Reboot Britain : Rejoin EU
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.