Paul Bowers, our parliamentary lobbyist has produced an excellent letter to promote All-Party Parliamentary action on the EU which we may customise (attached).
We seek to target wobbling Tories as a first tranche and, of course, opposition parties.
Please go to the Google sheet and populate the sheet with details of relevant MPs and add your name if you plan to write to your MP.
Here is the letter to customise:
[Name] MP
House of Commons
London
SW1A 0AA
Dear [MP]
All-Party Parliamentary Group on European Union
I am writing as a constituent to ask you to consider setting up an All-Party Parliamentary Group on the European Union.
[I am a member of {name of activist group}]. I voted Remain in the 2016 referendum, and I have campaigned on the issue ever since.
[Insert personal connection here – In addition, my husband is Estonian; I have fond memories of studying at the Sorbonne; I once ate a croissant … ]
As you know, leaving the EU has damaged the UK’s fishing communities, threatens our farmers and food security, has cost eye-watering sums for financial services, harmed our creative industries, and forced many exporters either to scale down or to relocate. The Government’s encouragement of relocation is as much an admission of failed policy as are its plans to support retraining for farmers. Brexit has also damaged UK democracy, reduced our standing in the world, stigmatised EU nationals, and divided our country.
I believe that membership of the European Union is a necessity for the UK.
However, the response of the major political parties to the result of the 2019 general election risks creating a vicious circle of despair. Many voters wish to rejoin the EU, but feel that this is not possible because politicians are not showing leadership to that end. They feel politically homeless.
If no voice in Parliament even addresses the damage of our loss of membership, nor points out the opportunities presented by new developments within the EU, such as the growth of the green and digital sectors from the ambitious NextGenerationEU recovery and transformation plan, we will not be in a position to take advantage promptly of any opportunity to promote membership that might arise.
According to the APPG Register of 2 June 2021, there are Groups on individual European countries, on Erasmus and on Reuniting Britain Post-Brexit, but not on the EU itself.
As you may know, Article 11 of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement provides that the European Parliament and the UK Parliament may establish a Parliamentary Partnership Assembly “to exchange views on the partnership.”
In its Resolution 2021/2658(RSP) of 28 April 2021, the European Parliament endorsed this, envisaging an Assembly which would monitor implementation of the TCA, and suggesting that its remit include “the right to submit recommendations for areas where improved cooperation could be beneficial for both parties and to take joint initiatives to promote close relations.”
An APPG could support this work, and undertake a number of other roles:
Raising awareness of the damage caused by Brexit and the broken promises of Brexiteers
Channelling constituents’ views on policies that might reconcile them to EU membership
Creating a basis for lobbying within your own party in an effort to shift the leadership towards Rejoin
Representing the experiences of EU national constituents and their children
Providing scrutiny of the TCA, now that the Government has abolished the Commons Committee on the Future Relationship with the European Union
Commissioning research, providing spokespeople to the media and promoting an informed view of the EU, life outside, and the accession process
Providing a conduit to Parliament, through external membership, for informed activists
Contacting the Conference on the Future of Europe to discuss reforms that might help reconcile UK voters to a future return, and to stay in touch with new developments in the EU
I hope you will consider this suggestion positively, and speak to other Members about the possibility of creating an APPG on the EU. The longer we go on without one, the more glaring the omission, and the harder it will be for politicians to break the silence on this most vital of issues.
Every day, people of all persuasions tell me “Brexit is done – we can do no more”. More than many, I understand just how wearing nearly five years of gaslighting, shapeshifting and obfuscation is on the soul. But, in spite of it all, we can and we must:
Re-Boot Britain is a pan-political advocacy and lobbying network. Let’s restore humanity, humility, democracy and truth in politics to Britain. Nearly five years of lying, gaslighting, shapeshifting and obfuscation gave us Brexit. Lets’s put the populist genie back in the bottle, by bettering the populists at their own wicked games:
* Reform politics towards representative democracy.
* Break the parliamentary paralysis that broke Britain.
* Take back control (sic) of populist media across our divided nations by making our case for a Better Britain in a Better Europe for a Better World
* Create mind-shifts to move popular opinion about Britain’s role in the world.
Brexit has consumed Britain : 3 elections, 3 Prime Ministers and 3 failed attempts to Brexit. It has left us weak and vulnerable in our response to COVID.
A political backbone has been absent in Britain for nearly five years and probably longer. The diverse and disparate Remain movements have sometimes gold-plated the strategy that lost them the referendum, albeit with the best of intentions. Various attempts to build cohesion and collaboration into our movement have failed, rather like one of the biggest silo-based monolith public sector organisations.
Yet we cannot allow the greatest disaster next to climate change to threaten the next generation’s futures to continue. Our continued resistance is both moral, a fight worth having and certainly not a waste of tiWatch the video below for a quick overview of the project:
Read more about the background to this in our paper “Brexit Futures“. Although the paper was published in January 2020 and is therefore out of date, much of what it says remains relevant, especially the second half, on the question of reforming our fragmented movement. The paper has been adopted by Grassroots for Europe and a number of other large pro EU institutions including the Federal Trust and Hendrik Klassens, the originator of the #FBPE hashtag.
The panic buying associated with the Corona outbreak gave us a sneak preview of what Brexit will look like. This is merely an hors d’ouevre for Britain, if we allow things to continue. As I write on Jan 04 2021, people are beginning to work out the impact of our thin deal via companies who are refusing to supply UK with goods and services, problems with Amazon / ebay etc.
THE WHY : OUR AIMS
THE HOW – STRATEGY
We are building a full time professional advocacy movement with the aim of breaking the deadlock of our “dead cat” politics:
1. Breaking Parliamentary Paralysis – via lobbying MPs using a variety of means.
2. “Taking Back Control” of populist media via press and media activity in national and local print / radio and TV media.
3. Develop much better reach into social media, in terms of honesty, depth of penetration and reach across Britain.
4. Changing minds on Brexit via 1:1 conversations and / or en masse via online leaders’ debates and other grassroots strategies.
HOW II – OUR ORGANISATION
We have a team-based network structure across Britain and Europe. What we cannot do ourselves, we do with others e.g. The European Movement, Grassroots for Europe, EU Flag Mafia, UKPEN and so on. We invite you to join one or more of these bubbles, giving consideration to your skills and will. We run weekly ZOOM meetings. Please drop me a message to join an induction meeting or one of our regular tactical meetings where we create campaigns and media.
HOW CAN YOU HELP?
We ask that you join us with a suggested donation of £10 per month or £100 pa for Silver membership. If you can spare more, please consider higher level donations of £25 pm / £250 pa or £50 pm / £500 pa. Or please just give what you can afford on an ad hoc basis. Everything helps.
Silver : Gives you basic early access to our daily stream of writing and media
Gold : Gain copies of our work in advance of release (books, music, media). Exclusive invites to our regular series of conference calls and seminars
Platinum : 1:1 coaching in the art and discipline of changing minds on Brexit plus all other benefits above
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Isn’t Brexit already done? A piece of paper was signed
We had our “Chamberlain moment” on 31.01.20 plus Boris Johnson some time spent in a gulag (fridge), finally getting Brexit done through using COVID and Christmas as a weapon to distract us from the realities of the “oven-ruined Brexit deal”. But Brexit is a political process and the law is merely a servant to the politicians. We now face a winter of discontent, as the realities start to bite. Anything is possible in such a climate, including the dramatic fragmentation of an 80 strong majority and / or the slow removal of the populist culture carriers from power, just as Trump has been leavened gradually. If you are not sure on the relative powers of politics versus the law, just think of ONE occasion when the Government obeyed the rule of law in the last five years, or other precedents. Here’s a few where they didn’t:
1. Gina Miller’s Supreme Court Case 2. The Cooper No Deal amendment – No Deal was deemed illegal, yet it was used in 2020 as a threat to secure Brexit 3. Pro-rogation of Parliament 4. The 6 million petition was ignored 5. Planning to break international law to get Brexit done 6. Allowing rapists to continue acting as MPs 7. Re-introduction of the death penalty, which threatens our trade agreement with the EU
… and so on. Our Government is beyond the law. We should not be so keen to give them excuses to continue doing this.
If political will changed, the law would be made to fit the circumstances and lawyers would spend years and earn a lot of money re-arranging the law to fit the circumstances.
Is it too late? We finalised things?
We have now exited the EU via a highly compressed timetable and limited scrutiny of the trade deal. Mark Francois has already declared that the fight for a hard Brexit will continue and negotiations will continue for many years as contradictions and conflicts emerge. We can use various legal devices such as Article 49 and or the formal review process built into the trade agreement. We live in a disruptive political climate with the toxic mixture of Corona + Brexit = Britastrophe and we have no idea whether Boris Johnson’s Government will survive the oncoming tsunami.
What will we do with the money?
We will hire a small organisation – A PA, fundraising team, professional web platform and so on. Also allocate up to 50% of the funds to support our full-time input. Voluntary activity is fine but we need full time professional help to be agile and able to react. I am prepared to set my work aside to do this but I also need to live. Of late we have had to install security and surveillance measures due to death threats and actual attacks on my property from angry people who claim that continuing to talk about Brexit is anti-democratic.
What is our organising structure?
Strategy and Leadership team – Members of this team are established strategists and people who can lead and manage others. All leaders of the other teams are automatically part of this team and we invite people from other Remain / Rejoin organisations for collaboration purposes.
Fundraising team – Members of this team understand how to raise funds for a cause or are willing and able to amplify the efforts of the leader of the fundraising team.
Social media amplification team – We need a team of people who have time to give across the major social media – Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram etc. either in content generation or pure amplification of our social media footprint. Our ABV (Anti-Brexit Virus) Super Spreader networks are already established on Facebook and Twitter. Our real enemy is not Corona, it is the populist politics that offer “easy answers” to complex problems.
Mainstream media team – Members of this team write great letters, articles and / or conduct credible interviews with MSM across print, radio and television. You may be members of the public with media skills, business leaders, political pundits, journalists, celebrities and so on. We must punch above our weight in MSM using colourful material with gravitas added.
People, Parliament and Power team – You will likely possess skills of influence and persuasion, both in terms of positive advocacy and possibly the “dark side of the force” e.g. Machiavellian and Sun Tzu type strategies to deal with opponents. European Movements liaison team – Our strength is the extent to which we are able to operate as ‘boundary crossers’ to minimise the silo-based structure of Remain. You will be an avid and capable networker, able to gain co-operation from the main organisations.
Scotland, Ireland, Wales and The EU team – Brexit means that there will be significant moves towards independent nations and regions of the UK. We will support local elections and other activities to help others gain independence. You may live in England. Website and media production team – We’re looking for people with skills to upgrade the website and produce video and other media.
Events team – Working with other national groups such as EU Flag Mafia, Grassroots for Europe, we support other grassroots groups in delivering impactful events. We have already staged a Festival of Brexit and other events and plan more. Administration team – We are looking for a team to assist our professional PA to smooth communication and co-ordination. We plan a weekly briefing to members and our networks to help bridge the many silos in the Remain organisation.
Holding Brexit to account team – Essentially, you will be a good analyst and someone who can interrogate data and convert it into powerful information via reports and other media.
Oh, no, not another anti Brexit movement?
Our difference comes from the fact that we will be more direct than professional politicians, outsmarting Nigel Farage et al. at their own wicked games. We will also rely more on professionals in their field rather than volunteers. This will give us the edge in terms of responsiveness and agility. At the same time we will collaborate with other pro EU and anti-Brexit groups across the board, acting to amplify their efforts. Despite best efforts of the many local grass roots EU organisations and various central quangos which have now folded, much of our work has suffered from “initiative constipation” – see Brexit Futures for more insights on this. In brief:
* We collaborate with the major national and international Remain movements.
* We have no party politics but work with people across parties.
* We allocate full-time professional effort to our organisation. Voluntary effort alone, whilst welcome, has not given us sufficient energy, agility and focus.
When I was five years old, I wanted to be in The Beatles, but all the jobs were taken … By the age of 12, I wanted to be a scientist and I became one. At the age of 18 I took a job with a philanthropic pharmaceutical company, working around the world and developing the first human insulin, novel medicines for herpes and to bring the first HIV / AIDS treatment to the world in record time. This means that I bring a scientific mind, curiosity and rigour to your enterprise.
By the age of 30 I had developed an interest in business leadership and began teaching MBA programmes, having completed 3.5 degrees myself. At 34, I took myself out of a paid job and, for the last 28 years, I have worked independently as a consultant, author and speaker with people at all levels all over the world, helping them to transform their enterprises. My clients seek to balance their passions, purposes and profit for a more responsible and sustainable form of capitalism in the 4th industrial age. I also help leaders digest what we call “wicked problems and opportunities”, in other words, the issues that keep them awake at night, using a unique mixture of divergent and convergent thinking skills. My 28 years of consultancy experience bring a wealth of expertise and wisdom to you, in enterprises as diverse as Unilever to the United Nations.
Along the way, I have written 12 books on leadership, innovation and creativity, gaining a prize for my work from Sir Richard Branson and various accolades from Professors Charles Handy, Adrian Furnham, Tom Peters et al. Over some 50 years, I have gradually combined my three passions of science, business and music into a potent mixture which reaches the head, heart and soul of your enterprise.
In combination, your enterprise benefits from rigour, analytics and curiosity due to my science and business background, plus the emotional intelligence, creativity and improvisation skills that come from my life as a music composer and producer. As a musician I have been privileged to interview world class musicians such as Roberta Flack, John Mayall, AC / DC, members of Prince’s ensembles, Queen’s production team and Meatloaf’s singing partners for their insights into leadership, innovation and success.
I am a passionate advocate for better politics and better business for a better world, fighting populist politicians and short-termism in our global affairs. I am an “HR” person, i.e. a “Hippy Realist”: green by ideals, but pragmatic by actions to change the world towards more sustainable behaviour.
Anti-Brexit activism
On terms of my work over the last five years, I have led the Rage Against The Brexit Machine project, having written three albums of anti-Brexit protest songs and got one of them to Number One on the Amazon chart. “Brexorcist in Chief” for Mid Kent 4 EU, I wrote a book on the subject of having difficult conversations with Leave voters from many thousands of hours of activity on the street, in cafes and bars. Out of all this time, on one occasion I gained two black eyes for misjudging an interaction with angry leave voters. I was also arrested by Essex Police for driving a Mini Cooper with “B*llocks to Brexit” on the side. They asked me to remove the signage on the hard shoulder of the M25. Sadly for Essex Police I called 999 to have the officer arrested. 250 000 Tweets later, Essex Police had to retreat with an apology for putting their lives and ours at risk. I should emphasise that the vast majority of our dealings with the Police and public have been cordial and uneventful.
I stood a stuffed cat in the 2019 General Election. Although the cat was only there to create tactical voting, to my surprise, Stan the Cat did not come last in the ratings, beating the Christian People’s Alliance who had been campaigning for 15 years with a budget !! Aside from the above sensationalism, I’ve managed to get our cause into the BBC, ITV, Sky, LBC and all major print media from The Guardian to The Express without ANY media agency or budget, just by using a professional approach. Whilst some Remainers consider me “underground”, my approach is much more effective than the blowhards in committees who simply watch things happen.
For nearly 5 years I have acted to dispel the illusions of Brexit. At 62 I am at some risk from Corona and consider that a fitting epitaph for my life would be the destruction of Brexit populism for the sake of future generations.
Yesterday’s “Domshell” revelations from Cummings are out there for all to see. However, Cummings managed to sidestep one vital issue. The extent to which the Government’s decisions on COVID were themselves informed by the obsessive need to “Get Brexit Done”. Here we report on the Cummings and Goings after a brief interlude from a spoof edition of “FHM Magazine” which illustrates the type of gaslighting we will be expecting in the cummings days:
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Cummings could hardly admit that his pet project of Brexit was in any way a cause of the indecision, cronyism, delay and lies put forward to fool the public about our world beating deaths under COVID and the losses of lives and livelihoods due to stop start lockdowns and failure to use circuit breakers under the advice of scientists. However, it is plain to see that Johnson used COVID as a mask to “Get Brexit Done” last Christmas, when no-one seemed to care about anything else other than turkeys and an end to the COVID crisis. Johnson was able to railroad his own MPs and the opposition into signing a deal with zero scrutiny. We are only just beginning to see the outfall of Johnson’s decisions on Brexit, see Brexodus and to misquote a well-worn phrase “the worst is yet to come”
Brexit + COVID overload
At the most basic level, our problems with COVID deaths and emerging Brexit problems are a resourcing and time management issue in Government and The Civil Service in spite of best efforts on the part of most people. No other civilised country in the world has tried to deal with a pandemic PLUS a constitutional coup at the same time. Stretched resources meant that decisions were either not taken or delayed. Bad decisions cost lives in a pandemic, at least 150 000 unnecessary COVID-related deaths. The decisions made by Johnson’s Cabinet were masked by lies, which also grew on an exponential scale alongside pandemic deaths.
Hancock’s half hour
Although Matt Hancock has been served up to face the public, he is not the root cause of the problems with COVID deaths. They go back to the irresponsible decision to Get Brexit Done alongside the pandemic and the people who pushed for this are strangely silent. Lest we forget their names:
We warned of the problems from dither and delay over a year ago in March 2020. Cummings revelations are welcome. If he is now to clear his record, he must go further and admit that the toxic combination of Corona crisis + Brexit disaster has delivered a Britastrophe. I am not forgiving Cummings yet, but his candour is welcome and I believe his testimony. To quote some well worn phrases:
I agree with Dom
Let’s talk about BREX .. it
Decision making is a function of effective leadership
The wonderful work of Cold War Steve with an insertion of my Britastrophe banner. Find Steve’s work by clicking the image.
In our occasional series of Brexit satire we offer you Railway Modeller and The Northern Farmer. Plus a fact checker to help you tell Brexit facts from fiction.
FACT and FICTION checker
FICTION : AC DC’s Angus Young does not have a signature hormone fed steak pie. He has a signature Gibson SG.
FACT : Australian beef is hormone injected. It can be selectively fed to children and vulnerable people as UK Government rules allow for cheap food to be dumped on schools, the NHS and care homes. Our EU membership protected us from dodgy food standards but we opted for a blue passport.
FACT : Liz Truss has NOT struck a great trade deal with Japan. Japan benefits five times more than we do. Our desperation to get Brexit done makes us an easy target for “fire sale” type trade deals. Truss wants to claim success by striking a deal with Australia. We will pay for this dearly. Free trade in 15 years time will decimate the economies of Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and parts of England.
FICTION : Boris Johnson is not a train enthusiast. Allegedly he paints cardboard buses.
FACT : The rebrand of Great British Railways is an expensive distraction. See Grant Schapps’ ludicrous flag shagging video filmed with emotional music at the National Railway Museum in York, shortly to be renamed the Great British Brexit Museum.
“The beginning of a new railway era, that Britain can be proud of.”🚆
Transport Secretary @grantshapps has announced the #PlanForRail, to reform Britain’s railways and put passengers first.
— Department for Transport (@transportgovuk) May 20, 2021
FICTION : Mallard is not being put back into service, nor The Rocket to power HS2.
FACT : The Australian trade deal will spell a sharp decline in farming in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
FICTION : Ringo Starr is not stuck in the tunnel from Scotland to Northern Ireland. The tunnel is a work of fiction rather like Brexit.
FICTION : Jennifer Arcuri is not a farmer. She is about to release a TV drama in which she describes her sex life with Johnson : “We read sonnets to each other, then he rolled onto me like a binbag full of custard, gasping like an asthmatic octogenerian, as he reached his climax & I wondered if he’d got it in yet”.
No, we don't believe anything you say.
What we want to know is more from Jennifer Arcuri and others who have had personal experience of you. pic.twitter.com/4damu1I1JH
— Gordon Pearson 3.5% 🇪🇺 #FBPE #FBPPR #FBPA (@gcpearson69) May 17, 2021
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At what point do you consider that “enough is enough” in terms of voting conservative in the local elections? Are you at breaking point yet? Ask yourself the following questions?
Do you mind that Boris Johnson promised fishermen that he would take back control of their waters only to find that this was a red herring?
Do you mind that Liz Truss has done a trade deal with Japan that gives them five times more trade than we get?
Do you mind that Matt Hancock wasted £37 BILLION of your taxes on fictional Test and Trace equipment?
Do you mind that Boris Johnson presided over up to 80 000 unnecessary COVID deaths?
Do you mind that the Conservatives are now unhappy with the Brexit deal it signed off without reading?
Do you mind that Boris Johnson lied to The Queen?
Do you mind that Boris Johnson will be judge and jury at an enquiry about his conduct as the leader of your country?
Do you mind that Boris Johnson said there would be no border in Ireland and now there is as Brexit marks a return to “the troubles”?
Do you mind paying £35 ++ in tariffs and taxes for goods imported from Europe when we were promised that trade would be frictionless and free?
Do you mind that India and other countries require freedom of movement as part of any trade deal with Britain? This is the very thing that the Conservatives promised to stop through Brexit.
Do you mind that you were lied to about Brexit, COVID and Grenfell?
Do you mind that James Dyson was paid millions and never made a single COVID ventilator?
Do you mind that UK trade in dairy products has been decimated by Brexit?
Do you mind that farmers are unable to get workers to pick fruit and veg after Brexit?
Do you mind that the wallpaper used to redecorate Downing Street costs more per roll than most people earn in a week?
Do you mind?
Do you mind?
Do you mind?
Vote for any party other than the Tories on Thursday May 6th
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Are you at breaking point or don’t you mind being lied to constantly?
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