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.
Brexit has failed
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.
Brexit in 2024 – a summary
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:
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‘.
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.
Brexorcisms still needed
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:
Some of our books. Click the image to check them out on Amazon.
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.
The Tory MP Kevin Hollinrake is moaning about giving worker’s rights. I suggested that he stop whingeing as he’d got his Brexit. Then “Dave Gilmour” entered the fray. No, not the brilliant Pink Floyd guitarist and singer/songwriter but Dave, cynic, affiliate at Mundo Cognito Ltd, author of “Privacy Architecture – guided by TOGAF®” according to his LinkedIn profile. The online conversation that ensued was comedy gold. Dave claims that he does not need any benefits or problems solved by Brexit and then goes on to pretend that he voted Remain.
Hollinrake’s original post.
Another prick in the mall.
Comfortably Numb.
Wish EU were here.
Angry Dave needs to chill.
Paul got no reply from Dave. Too busy promoting his new album I guess.
When you lose the argument, go for the gut. Very Trumpesque.
Dave makes a false claim that he voted to Remain but lets himself down with his grammar … “get over it”, “embittered losers” and so on are the ‘grammatical ornaments’ of Brexit extremists. I await the trial.
This rather reinforces the poverty of trying to influence people online. Brexorcism is a face to face discipline as I explain in Reboot Britain.
Don’t be like Dave. He just made a fool of himself in front of all his LinkedIn contacts.
Keir Starmer seems to be “confused” about the case to join the EU anew, stating that there is no such case. I thought I would put him out of his misery on the topic, so we have written this proposal. It is far from complete, so please add your contributions via e-mail to reboot@brexitrage.com. I will incorporate and credit you in the final work. Ending Brexit is not a magic bullet solution to Britain’s problem but the impacts will be wide ranging and felt right across the STEEPLE factors (Sociological, Technological, Economic, Environmental, Political, Legal and Ethical). We must join EU anew as part of a strategy to Reboot Britain after 14 years of managed decline.
TITLE : Reboot Britain– Join EU Anew
Exec summary to be written once the main body and all the detail is complete. And a structure applied to the document for overview and detail.The final document will be presented as a WORD / PDF download with a petition attached for supporters’ signatures.
Our primary audiences will be politicians of all persuasions, mainstream media, community leaders and influencers across the entire spectrum. We will need people to reach these people as part of a mass communication strategy.
The economic opportunities
Brexit is costing us £100 BILLION every year with a 4.5% drag on our resilience. Remember Michael Gove’s claim of frictionless trade? Well that so-called ‘non-friction’ is costing us £40 BILLION every year in lost revenue. For comparison, Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage’s much vaunted £350 million per week for the NHS that we supposedly saved from our EU membership only grosses up to £18.2 BILLION per annum. As far as I can tell, we never actually spent this money on the NHS anyway and the 40 mythical hospitals never materialised. In 2020 the UK made an estimated gross contribution to the EU (after the rebate) of £17.0 billion. The UK also received £4.5 billion of public sector receipts from the EU, so the UK’s net public sector contribution to the EU was an estimated £12.5 billion. So, we are bleeding something like £140 bn to save £13 bn. For the avoidance of doubt and for those Brexiteers who Rishi Sunak suggested have issues with mathematics, 140 is quite a lot more than 13.
The word BILLION is also an eye watering number. To put this into context it means that each citizen is £2000 worse off due to Brexit.
And some 300 000 jobs have been lost from the City of London alone. This alone ought to be a wake up call to Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves. I cannot detect whether they are frightened of someone or something (CAN’T do it) or whether Labour’s vacillation is ideologically based (WON’T do it). Either way, it’s certainly not in the interests of the country. We are expected to be £311 billion worse off by 2035.
Brexit has also made the cost-of-living crisis more severe in the UK. City Hall analysis shows that 30% of the 25% increase in food prices between December 2019 and March 2023 could be attributed to the effects of Brexit. Other research from the London School of Economics (LSE) confirms this by showing that Brexit added an average of £250 to household food bills over the two years to the end of 2021, costing UK consumers a total of £6 billion.
GVA (Gross Value Added) analysis : Source Sky News.
Go Compare
Given the eye watering cost of Brexit and lost opportunities measured in multi-billions, some comparisons are helpful. £140 billion could pay the annual wages bill for ALL NHS staff … TWICE at £71.1 billion !! Or we could nationalise water with some spare change left (£90 billion). Or fix social care at a mere £7 billion ! Repairing schools a snip at £11.4 billion and upgrading defence £50 billion. Our police force costs £23.5 billion per year. £140 billion could go a long way towards fixing broken Brexit Britain. Rachel Reeves is just fiddling whilst Brexit Britain burns … WHY, WHY, WHY?
The social opportunities
But, it’s not just about the money, money, money … If Starmer / Reeves choose to ignore the numbers, they cannot ignore the ugly face of Brexit inspired fascism which is sweeping the nation as I write. Farage / Robinson / Braverman et al’s Provisional English Defence League have moved beyond rioting towards terrorism by trying to burn people alive in a hotel under the guise of ‘taking back control’. Claiming to be patriots whilst looting shops, smashing up property and threatening to kill people is an odd way to be patriotic. This is justification enough to end Brexit inspired racism and Reboot Britain, never mind anything else. It also comes with an economic cost. In 2011, the riots were estimated to have cost Britain between £200 million and 500 million in damages, lost trade and policing, a hit to monthly U.K. GDP of roughly 0.15% The WSJ also estimated that riots damage the economy through loss of confidence and so on.
Hate crimes have seen a consistent rise since 2014. Farage used racism as a weapon to swing the 2016 Brexit referendum, some analysts belive by up to 12%. The referendum vote was followed by an increase in race and religious hate crime of 15-25% in England and Wales. The recent reaction to the tragic events in Southport by far right thugs is itself a demonstration of just how much Farage, Tice, Braverman, Anderson, Oakeshott, Badenoch, Robinson, Jenrick, Patel et al. have emboldened overt racist behaviour by a small section of society. Brexit is the fuel for these fires. People demonstrated that they no longer fear racist behaviour and, in some cases, it is seen as a badge of honour, just like in the 1970s.
Source Gov.uk crime statistics England and Wales.
In 2020, a set if predictions were made about social impacts of Brexit. All have come to pass in one way or another. Potential impacts included: loss of rights, economic and public services impacts, increase in hate crime, immigration and labour market impacts, and the potential for further dilution of equalities rights and protections. Of course, undoing social illnesses is not as quick as economic ones and, in some cases, these changes are not easily reversible.
The Scottish Government also reported that the impact of Brexit on consumers would be gendered because women are the main managers of family budgets and the shock-absorbers of poverty. In contrast to Nigel Farage’s 2016 ‘brochure’ Brexit benefits have turned out to be “for the few and NOT the many. Since there is so much focus on immigration due to Braverman’s moving of the “Overton window” on this matter, it is worth repeating the fact that immigration can be fixed. Watch our two minute explainer film on the matter:
Just two minutes – Keir Starmer, take note.
The Irish question
A piece on NI to be written.
Fixing the NHS / Social care / Farming etc.
We continue to be critically short of skilled people in social care, the NHS, farming, hospitality, science, engineering and many other professions. Some 330 000 shortages in fact. And the Farage loving Brexiteers have not stepped up to the plate to pick crops and wipe ar..es in care homes, let alone train as doctors, space scientists, computer programmers and so on. In my own area of Kent, they now complain that the faces of people coming here are darker … they are just never satisfied with their Brexit, all of which was predicted for them so painfully. But the number of people I encounter on a daily basis who say such things is much reduced. Only Nigel Farage, Suella Braverman, Badenoch et al continue to promulgate the myth that migration is a blight on our society, followed by a few people with feeble minds.
A healthier Britain
As a direct result of leaving the EU, healthcare has suffered due to loss of EU NHS staff. Waiting lists are appalling. This is having an effect on our health in general. Patients can’t be sure of getting essential meds. Amidst worldwide shortages UK govt. has made this much worse by cutting supply chains.
We are what we eat and Brexit red tape has also restricted our supplies of healthy, low-carb food (essential for diabetics, for example). On top of that Brexit has made our food much more expensive. People can’t afford to eat properly, which can have a detrimental effect on health. We’re seeing many more cases of malnutrition since Brexit. When people suffer sickness the economy gets sick too because workers are off sick.
The Tory government is to blame for mismanagement and underfunding of the NHS and also appalling response to the pandemic, causing long term sickness for those with Long Covid. Rejoining the EU would certainly help us to alleviate some of these issues.
This section would benefit from some data links.
Science
The Royal Society of Chemistry recently reported that Brexit continues to cause significant damage to UK businesses. They recommend a UK wide National Chemicals Agency. This kind of call for a ‘sticking plaster’ rather than reaching for a cure is replicated across many industries and sectors, in the great British “make, do and mend” tradition. I would rather emulate the Japanese with a “right first time” approach. In other words, rather than “death by a 1000 ameliorations”, the best option is to put an end to Brexit.
The only good Brexit is a dead Brexit …
Furthermore, science and many other sectors face critical skill shortages. See the FT article on care workers for example. Science is not practised on a country by country basis. It requires the finest minds from across the world. The RSC reported that there are still obstacles to attraction and retention of talented people.
Source : FT.
Food security
Even the Brexity BBC Radio 4 reported on the fact that we lack resilience in our food supply. Our decision to Brexit has magnified the problem. I even suggested that BBC Farming Today be renamed Brexit Today as they speak of little else on every programme whilst the nation slumbers.
Source : The Independent.
More to be added here.
The will of the people
I’d hazard an informed guess that the 2024 General Election result was a reversal of the 2019 one, where Boris did not win, but Corbyn and the false promise of ‘getting Brexit done’ lost Labour the election. In 2024, the Tories undoubtedly lost, but did Labour really win, with a resounding success for the Lib Dems and a significant protest vote by the Reform party aka ‘none of the above’? Recent Statista analysis shows that views on the Brexit vote continue to be negative, especially with younger people. If Starmer continues to ignore these findings, he could find himself in the 2019 position in 2029. Labour MPs continue to float the myth that we can rejoin in 2032. Well guys, you may not get that far …
Barriers to Rejoin
This section needs expansion re Labour, Tories, Lib Dems, Leave Voters and of course the EU.
The key barriers to success are the UK parties, especially Labour and Conservatives, then there is the EU itself and of course the 67 million people of Britain. Dealing with these one by one:
Remainers are the best asset that Nigel Farage and Richard Tice. They are meek, unassuming and make few demands on the political system. Here is a quote from an older gentleman that does not believe we can rejoin without decades of repentance:
The issue then is arrogant British exceptionalism that both sides seem to possess. Because the major stumbling block for Britain Is .. Will the EU ever trust the British again? Not the baby boomer generation I suspect.
Of course, what is needed are more than calm words. We are now at the point where 2/3 of the UK population believe that we must rejoin. Given the numbers of young people who wish to rejoin and the certainty that people of my generation who still believe in Brexit will literally expire in the coming years, this represents an irrevocable shift in public attitudes towards Europe and EU membership. This is an overarching majority and politicians do not hold grudges where there are opportunities to be seized. What is now needed at a macro level would be some guarantees and at a micro level further education and mass Brexorcisms of the soft Brexiteer population, see objective four of our Reboot Britain strategies and our book which offers a practical guide to the gentle art of Brexorcism.
Our five strategies to Reboot Britain.
The price of freedom
The few remaining Brexiteers claim that Brexit was not about making us wealthier and that you cannot put a price on freedom. Well, you can …
The freedom NOT to waste £4.7 billion of YOUR taxes on Brexit border checks.
The freedom NOT to lose 4.5% GDP EVERY year from Brexit.
More to be added here.
The longest journey
The longest journey begins with the first step. In other words, it’s all about strategic intent rather than the destination. People waste a lot of energy discussing the end point of the Rejoin journey. What matters is the beginning of the process and this simply requires the completion of an application for to join the EU anew. Since markets are perfect, this act of intent would have immediate benefits. The financial sector would stop bleeding key staff to Europe. The car industry would be assured of continuity of operations since rules of origin laws would no longer apply once re rejoin. The pharmaceutical, high tech, finance sectors and so on would immediately realise that there is no need to continue the slow drift away from Brexit Britain. Shared industrial standards would bring many benefits e.g. to construction and the chemical industry. Since markets are perfect, all of this would mean a fairly instantaneous uplift to our fortunes. And so on …
So, it does not matter so much when we complete the rejoining process. What matters is when we begin …
Routes to Renaissance
Remoaners also keep talking of the need for a referendum. No referendum is needed, nor is it the best or only route to achieve the goal. There is incontrovertible evidence that Brexit is a socio-economic, environmental and political disaster. I pay my taxes for Government to make complex decisions on my behalf. The Brexit referendum was declared unlawful by The Supreme Court if it had been anything but advisory. It is a mistake to repeat a broken process and our best choice is to let Government do their job. If however we felt compelled to do so due to faux reasoning about democracy, we should conduct it in EXACTLY the same way as we did before, i.e. with a simple yes/no question and the same criteria for the decision. No need for the super majority demanded by some Remoaners – if 52:48 was good enough in 2016, it’s good enough now. but with a proper campaign so that people could understand the decision being presented to them, without misinformation or disinformation. The best option will be to let Parliament do the job we pay them for.
People also say that another referendum will open up the toxic debate in families. That may be true for some. Yet the Brexit question will otherwise plague the nation of several more generations without dealing with the unfinished business of Brexit. We must pop the boil of Brexit, otherwise it will continue oozing toxic puss for many decades to come without resolution. Britain will otherwise continue to be a basket case re grown up attitudes to politics. The referendum revealed the need for fundamental reforms to our democracy and governance.
An unfinished symphony
This proposal needs many refinements. For example, sections on legal, ethical and environmental benefits of joining the EU anew. A Pros and Cons grid as a summary would also be great. And more on European perspectives. The final document will be organised as a WORD document with appendices for detail to preserve the benefits of summary highlights and granular detail. Please mail me your contributions via reboot@brexitrage.com.
Eventually, we’ll need mass media spreading of the proposal and targeted letter writing to MPs and influencers. Other ideas include a book, films, petition, media pieces and so on. Your thoughts are welcome. If you find this useful, send us a tip on Paypal so that we can keep the website running and cover our basic costs of maintaining our work.
Useful resources
These videos are well worth your time: For an independent viewpoint, visit Post Factum.
The wonderful work of Rob Groves – subscribe to his channel.
Michael Lambert’s work is well worth your time – subscribe and learn.
Still to be integrated
Seamless borders. Ease of doing business with one of the world’s biggest markets that is RIGHT on our door step! Ease of collaboration and partnership with an enormous range of the world’s most advanced companies. Shared access to similar grant/research funding. Access to a mobile, highly skilled, multi-lingual workforce….. Cross border skills exchange/training. Shared industrial standards. Shared values.
To reopen barriers chosen by a brainwashed electorate! Viz: single market trade and free movement of goods; ability to live, work or study in any EU country; free access to emergency health care; common standards for health and environment; access to funding and investment.
My partner of 11 years & future wife (had to cancel wedding due to a no fault eviction notice) is an EU citizen- our travel is curtailed & restricted due to my EU passport being taken from me without my consent.
With thanks to Jane Berry, Richard Moore, Greg Newman, Wendy Nowak, Michael Lambert, Political X, Max Robespierre, Rob Groves, Robert Holman, Denis Buckley, Ian S Forrester KC, Terry Knott, Alison Murray, Adrian Ekins-Daukes, John Stephens, Andrew Hessleden.
I stood an independent candidate for the GE recently with a difference … standing a cat for election, on the basis that a cat could do no worse than Rishi Sunak … We had done something similar in 2019 as a joke, asking for no votes and finding that we did not come last !! The original intention was to undertake a two year campaign of events, briefings and other campaigning, but only a few thought it worthwhile, so we could not resource the longer project. I decided at the 11th hour to conduct an intensive campaign over six weeks, to see if we could disrupt the sitting Tory’s 15 000 majority and thereby assist with tactical voting by removing Rehman Chishti. I’m delighted to say that we succeeded at this level and also assisted in removingnot ONE, but at least FOUR Tories from office !! Here i describe some of the highlights.
344 votes were cast for Stan the Cat. I came 6th out of 8 candidates, beating two national parties (The Christian People’s Alliance and Social Democrat Party), both with budgets and national resources.
This was not too shabby, given that I recommended people vote for Labour rather than myself at two sets of hustings. In spite of this kamikaze mission, I gained more votes than Count Binface, who had immense national publicity, also outperforming the vast majority of independent candidates. I was constantly schooled by some independents in The Rejoin Party and more generally, that my cat campaign was wrong headed. They are now silent. Here’s one example of my many armchair advisers.
Why a cat?
Every day over the last 6 months, we have seen adverts on facebook / You Tube etc. from Labour (and Conservative). It was not possible to compete with the £ millions used by major parties to spam people with ads, so Stan the Cat was a means of ‘punching above our weight’ in an impossible situation to cut through to 71 000 people. Although my campaign was serious (a manifesto was available and so on), I also observe that people are switched off by politics (turnout was down in my area from 70% to 56%), so I set out to conduct a campaign which was both serious on content and fun on the means of engagement. Many people who said they would vote for my cat have subsequently told me that they felt compelled to vote for Labour in the end (Labour told residents that ‘it was too close to call” and “a vote for anyone else would cause the sky to fall in” etc. All the main parties use this tactic. In the end, my prediction came to pass … Labour won comfortably with 5000 majority and my cat was no threat to their win, but I fully understand why people were frightened to make a different choice.
All by myself
I did all the on the ground campaigning by myself, accepting that most people thought that resistance was pointless and potentially dangerous. The few that offered to help were not really ready to hit the ground running, some were Labour supporters who really did not get the campaign objective of ‘do no harm’ and so on. I eventually judged them to be a drain on progress, given the short time we had and decided to get on the bicycle and do the work myself, picking up advocates on route at bus stops, cafes, bars and in pop up events on the high streets and so on. This proved to be much more effective although exhausting. My original plan of building a team over two years and offering a range of community engagement events would have been much better, but most people only act when there is a burning platform i.e. the snap election.
At least four Tories scratched
At the same time, I helped The Lib Dems to win in Epsom through recruitment of volunteers and putting down a vicious attack on Helen Maguire, Lib Dem candidate by Gina Miller, leader of the so-called True and Fair party.
Our anti-Tory leaflets also helped to remove the truly odious Kelly Tolhurst and Nathan Gamester in Rochester / Strood and Chatham / Aylesford, through local distribution to network contacts. Others took small orders of 1000 / 2000 to target Tory strongholds and marginals. As my mum used to say “Every little helps, said the old woman pissing into the sea”.
ABC Leaflet
I also helped to recruit 14 candidates for the Climate Party and coached them on various matters from campaigning to hustings and social media. They have made a small but vital footprint in the sand for future generations.
Deform UK
Given that Deform UK got 8000 votes from 41 000 in my area, I consider my 344 as being really good. Not content with stumbloing into the ballot box, some Deform UK acolytes conducted a knife attack on my bicycle tyres and ran keys down my car. As a result I have a bill of at least £500 to put these things right. I suspect the car incident was down to our familiar local Brexitear Ken, as it was close to his house and he did say in his last communication that “doubtless we’ll meet again”, but, of course, Kent Police do not wish to investigate an ex-Met Policeman who left under mysterious circumstances … If you can help by supporting the repairs please donate via PayPal or Go Fund Me. I asked one of the Reform UK party people who I know from musical jam sessions if he could deal with the miscreant, but, of course, he dodged the question as they always do …
Deform UK also staged a series of online attacks. Read the comments on this video.
The comments from gammon are comedy gold if a little wearing …
Remoan
I also faced endless online criticism from some people across UK who voted to Remain in the EU, who said that I would split the vote and allow the Tories to win. In fact, I did the exact opposite. I knew exactly what I was doing in my area but the armchair critics thought they knew best. Rather than looking at the campaign objectives and the detail, they continued to operate from a visceral sense of panic and doom. In that sense, these people are united with Brexiteers in their inability to see things objectively. I will be detaching from the Rejoin movement gradually, as this election experience has demonstrated that (a) we are lost (b) when some leadership is shown it is rejected in favour of the status quo and (c) Starmer remains the leader of a Brexit party at the time of writing. Mealy mouthed accommodations by Starmer on Brexit are not enough. They will not solve the raft of economic, social, environmental and political problems we face as a country going forward. Yes, we won the battle against the Tories but lost the war against Brexit. Here’s the film I made on Starmer which I did not promote at the time to respect my ‘do no harm’ promise to the Labour candidate. It remains prescient.
Gina Miller
I was Gina Miller’s Campaign Manager for several months this year, eventually offering to resign after I realised that she preferred media attention over local campaigning and took her advice from Isabel Oakeshott and Richard Tice. I tried to persuade her of the need to rebalance from media appearances on “Talk Shit TV” with five viewere to the hard work of local campaigning. One of my greatest regrets is that I failed in this attempt. She sacked me to save face from my resignation proposal, stating a host of trivia as the reasons. You may say that I’m bitter. I’m not overall as it was a privilege to have the offer from someone I admired greatly. I do however remain cross about a sum of £5000 + that is owed due to a broken promise over a bonus (I worked for free initially based on referrals). When Mrs Miller reneged on the promise of referrals, we moved to a financial arrangement. She lost three campaign managers over a few months. To lose one is unfortunate, to lose three, careless … I suppose the big lesson here is that it’s sometimes a mistake to meet your heroes.
In the end, Gina Miller, a woman with £46 million and a supposed international brand, got 845 votes, versus a man with a bicycle and a cat 🐈 I’ll take this as a win !!! Miaow !!
What a cynical gesture !!!
Only a week or so ago you were spinning lies about Helen.
Did Oakeshott tell you to do this or did you do it all by yourself?
— Peter Cook – Reboot Britain / Rage against Brexit (@BrexitRage) July 7, 2024
Media Blackout
ITV and the local media channel KMTV refused the carry any coverage of my contributions to the Hustings, despite being told by several candidates and members of the public that they were by far the best contributions to the debate. KMTV ‘forgot’ to invite me and other independent candidates to the Hustings whilst stating on their website that ALL candidates had been invited. I suspect that the main parties were aware of this ‘omission’ but did nothing about it. So much for democracy.
Reflections
Had I conducted a long range campaign, I believe it could have been transformational … leaflets hit the doorsteps around 10 days before the election, not everyone got them as I became aware that some people got three copies from the Royal Mail and others none and so on. A member of staff told me that some Royal Mail people throw the leaflets away if they don’t agree with them …
On the upside, I thoroughly enjoyed meeting new people and discussing the issues they face in the area as well as the big ticket items currently being ignored by Starmer. I’m minded to start some citizens assemblies to ensure that he hears from the people of Medway.
Overall I am minded to think that further campaigning to end Brexit is pointless. We still lack leadership, strategy, structure and collaboration mechanisms and the major movements who people listen to are polluted by Labour. Brexit is a cross party issue. I am 8 years older than when I begun this etc. The Remoaners are still far to accommodating in their expectations of politicians and lack the skills and drive that gave Nigel Farage his victory.
Some wonderful people supported me online over the six weeks and I’m very grateful to them, especially David Hennessey, Julian Foster, June Austin, Greg Newman, James Rowland, Helga Perry, and many more, too numerous to mention. Here’s a small selection of the online activity.
We are now registered as an independent candidate in Gillingham and Rainham for the General Election. Our aims are two fold:
To split the Tory vote there and allow the tactical candidate to win.
To make sure that the Brexit elephant in the room remains in on the cabinet table for the next Government to deal with.
We desperately need another £500 of support to fund our leaflet campaign for 70 000 people in the area. Please back us here.
The Brexit Elephant in the room.
Resources
Find our press release, our leaflet and a 250 word local press release below:
UCAT Press ReleaseUCAT Press Release
Peter Cook, Independent
Peter is a self-made Medway-born business-person and professional speaker, from Gillingham. He is standing Stan the cat for election, on the basis that it could do no worse than Rehman ‘n’ Rishi. Although this sounds mad, Peter is deadly serious about the need for a better Medway and better politics. Peter’s policies include:
Expand the Medway Tunnel for bicycle and pedestrian use, to boost the Medway economy.
End Brexit chaos. Apply to Rejoin the EU, to reclaim our seat at the top table, improve trade and our place in the world. Brexit created 4.5% GDP loss to Britain. Our cost of living crisis has its roots in Brexit, like trying to swim the channel with a 4.5kg block of concrete around your neck. We cannot grow Britain without addressing the Brexit elephant (cat) in the room.
Restore broken Medway communities. No new houses without infrastructure: doctors; schools; hubs; pubs etc. Rethink town centres, rather than letting them wither.
Prosecute criminal MPs and water companies. Justice for Post Office workers, contaminated blood victims, WASPI women etc.
Convert the Great Lines to a giant litter tray … oh wait a minute, they already are … let’s green and clean up our towns instead.
Vote for Peter if you are fed up with political incompetence and incontinence, just fed up with politics and politicians in general, or think Britain needs a reboot. As an independent, I have no party to serve, just people who deserve a better Medway.
We need a canvassing team next. I am organising a speakeasy meeting at “UCAT HQ” this coming Tuesday at the Frog and Toad in Gillingham from 7 pm and another on Wednesday, the Mackland Arms in Rainham from 7 pm and the 12 Degrees in Rochester Thursday 20th June from 7 pm.
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.
Pump it up
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.
Micro Brexorcism
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.
Ask Elvis …
Keep asking Brexiteers difficult questions using every opportunity.
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:
Getleafletting
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.
Mail us to get your leaflets.Mail us to get your leaflets.
Boots on the ground – Epsom, Ewell and Leatherhead
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.
Boots on the ground – Rejoin Party
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?
Rejoin EU.
Boots on the ground – The Climate Party
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,
Swap My Vote
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.
Collaborate to win
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.
I know that Brexiteers have short memories, some because they have died since 2016, but Michael Gove promised us frictionless trade, only sunny uplands with no downsides from Brexit. It seems that Gove lied. Brexit has moved Britain from frictionless trade to rough trade. Please spend 20 minutes watching Michael Lambert’s report on the matter at the end of this article – it’s well worth your time. Some highlights follow:
Rough Trade
Veterinary checks at the border are expected to add 0.2% to inflation, plus of course delays and shortages of perishable goods such as meat and veg. BBC Tory cheerleader Amol Rajan tried to make light of this on the Today programme on Monday 20 May, yet of course, it’s all totally unnecessary. In any case, 0.2% from one single issue in an instant hit is rather a lot really, certainly a lot more than the 0.08% over 10 years expected to accrue from Kemi Badenoch’s overblown CPTPP trade deal !!
Then there is the impact on haulage companies. Ciaran the Euro Courier reports on the insane practices being used at Sevington:
There is no water at the purpose built facility, apart from a tap in the toilets, no food and no option to leave the facility to get food and drink. You may be stuck there for days, especially if you arrive late in the day as the facility only operates 12 hours a day in a 24/7 logistics business. This makes onwards journeys much more dangerous for the driver and, of course, other motorists.
The inspection process compares (poorly) with prison. It is designed to be intimidating. No one speaks to you. This is nothing like the process at Calais. It is designed to be intimidating. No wonder many drivers don’t come back.
This will impact our food security despite the many mitigations, cover ups and pieces of gaslighting that will be employed to distract us. Even the fucking Torygraph and The Sun have reported that Brexit border checks will cost us £4.7 BILLION. Try measuring that in nurses, carers and fruit pickers !! To avoid upsetting their readers, the Son are now calling it BREX !!
Greenbelt …. Kent – The Lorry Park of England.
Did you vote to waste £4.7 BILLION of YOUR money on this?
All the while, the whole HMRC process is meaningless in terms of what it intends to achieve. There is 22 miles between the Sevington facility and the port of Dover. You are free to pick up migrants, contraband and additional goods if you so wish. Brexit is pointless. A tragic comedy of errors.
Pop will
Well worth your time. The work of Michael Lambert.
Most people now realise that Brexit was a mistake. Make sure politicians hear you loud and clear in the run up to the GE, especially Labour. Write to them today. It matters not whether they respond or whether you like them or not.
We recently went to Dover to find out what people really think about Brexit. Most now realise that they were lied to and Brexit has not delivered on the promises from the 2016 ‘brochure’. Write to your MP to demand an end to Brexit carnage. Contrary to what people believe, Brexit is far from done and it’s possible to Rejoin if we apply enough pressure. The Rejoin Party are standing 11 candidates in the London Mayoral Election, in non-competitive seats under a proportional system, so it is possible to express your view without damaging Mayor. Watch our video account of the day:
The most insightful part of our day was not recorded, when we came upon the station staff at Dover Priory rail station. Three men and one woman. The woman was born and bred in the area, had a mining family from Shepherdswell, probably voted Labour originally, but voted for Boris in 2019 on the promise of stopping immigration. She planned to vote for Reform as she felt betrayed by the Tories. As usual she was resistant to questions about being lied to (time was very short for a decent Brexorcism) and said she did not care about future generations (again this is typical of the residual hardcore Brexiteer). Her colleagues were most amused as we asked questions and gently prodded her about her underlying xenophobia (one of the other station staff was black).
