By Richard North, leader of the Leave Alliance
1. It is not conspiratorial to say that both Johnson and Rees-Mogg are front men for a very narrow set of interests. they are relying entirely on the IEA think tank set for ideas - which sees #Brexit only in terms of how their financial backers can advance their interests.2. I have never heard JRM or Johnson give a detailed and convincing anti-EU speech. They know how to drop in buzzwords and eurosceptic terminology but they have stolen the clothes of anti-EU scholars who used to make up the eurosceptic movement.
3. Very skilfully they have cleaved euroscepticism away from Ukip which has freed itself to concentrating on grunting about Muslims. Most of the founders have either gravitated to the Tory fringes or bowed out completely.
4. What's left are a pack of quasi-libertarian "thinkers" hypnotised by "free trade" matras while having precisely zero comprehension of how modern trade works. For them, it is a religion. Offer up sacrifices to "the market" and we shall be blessed.
5. Johnson doesn't know or care what's going on or who he is even representing. He's just happy to have the endless media attention. He doesn't even care about voters who like him, not least because he is seldom likely to even speak to an average voter.
6. Rees-Mogg, however, is a serpent who has very particular designs for his own portfolio - and not much else. His public image is a nurtured one to give off an air of a family values man with a bit of Francis Urquhart thrown in - The Tory that Tories pray for.
7. Through the use of relentless propaganda they have managed to co-opt the eurosceptic movement as a figleaf of grassroots support for what is a radical ultra-free market agenda largely beholden to US corporate interests (the source of their financial backing).
8. Here is where JRM is more gifted than the Johnson thug. Johnson blethers, evading detail, addressing audiences who don't care about detail. JRM though likes to be seen as a scholar - so has become a magpie of terminology which he deploys to a largely clueless media.
9. To the average person it sounds like he has a grasp of the issues, but any trade professional will tell you that what comes out of that man's mouth is a jumble of contradictory nonsense and outright lies.
10. It goes down well with the Brexit herd because they do like to be told that Brexit is simpler than it looks and can be accomplished faster and without compromises or trade-offs. Populism 101. I shouldn't even call them Brexiters because they aren't.
11. And being that MPs are generally sheep and go along with whatever idea has momentum, otherwise well-intentioned have signed up to some of the most ludicrous ideas. Hearing Kate Hoey, supposedly a socialist parroting IEA free market dogma is astonishing.
12. Most of the genuine eurosceptic "thinkers" don't actually do any thinking anymore. Much of their rhetoric is over 25 years old and it hasn't been updated since - even though the EU is a very different animal now with a whole new array of faults and problems.
13. In fact I'm not sure there are any genuine eurosceptic thinkers left in the Commons. There may be one or two in the Lords who ironically see the democratic deficit, but in the main modern Brexitism is about advancing far economic right ideas with no regard to democracy.
14. It's actually not surprising at all that the eurosceptic movement has been so easily hijacked. That essentially was the function of the IEA sockpuppet thinktanks like the TPA. Ukip voluntarily surrendered its ownership of the issue long ago by refusing to invest in planning.
15. So this power struggle in the Tory party is not a fight for "the one true Brexit". Really it's just a grubby little clan of self-servers making a grab for high office. The have support having (successfully) painted May's plan as "BINO" through their "BrexitCentral" organ.
16. Being that their gophers and functionaries are teenage girlies (of both sexes) none of them have a clue as the the agenda in play and they genuinely believe the crap they spout. Not least because obedience is richly rewarded. See Grimes, Darren.
17. Brexit means that the ultra economic right are closer to power now than at any time in the last thirty years. They are considerably more radical than thatcher ever was and not in any way conservative. They are money men through and through.
18. Now we are at a stage where Brexit is now synonymous with the Johnson-Mogg agenda where thanks to the bovine stupidity of their followers, anyone who isn't singing from the script isn't a real Brexiter. British politics is regressing into tribalism like never before.
19. Like a pack of lemmings, unquestioningly following the leader, are charging straight over the cliff to the accompaniment of all the pleasing rallying songs of Brexit. What awaits them is far from what was promised but JRM and Co don't care. It doesn't affect them.
20. So as you clamour for the resignation of May, keep in mind that the ERG brigade don't have a viable plan not least because they are not interested in a negotiated Brexit. They are using you. They don't give a tulip about Britain or Brexit. This is just a bank heist.
3. Very skilfully they have cleaved euroscepticism away from Ukip which has freed itself to concentrating on grunting about Muslims. Most of the founders have either gravitated to the Tory fringes or bowed out completely.
4. What's left are a pack of quasi-libertarian "thinkers" hypnotised by "free trade" matras while having precisely zero comprehension of how modern trade works. For them, it is a religion. Offer up sacrifices to "the market" and we shall be blessed.
5. Johnson doesn't know or care what's going on or who he is even representing. He's just happy to have the endless media attention. He doesn't even care about voters who like him, not least because he is seldom likely to even speak to an average voter.
6. Rees-Mogg, however, is a serpent who has very particular designs for his own portfolio - and not much else. His public image is a nurtured one to give off an air of a family values man with a bit of Francis Urquhart thrown in - The Tory that Tories pray for.
7. Through the use of relentless propaganda they have managed to co-opt the eurosceptic movement as a figleaf of grassroots support for what is a radical ultra-free market agenda largely beholden to US corporate interests (the source of their financial backing).
8. Here is where JRM is more gifted than the Johnson thug. Johnson blethers, evading detail, addressing audiences who don't care about detail. JRM though likes to be seen as a scholar - so has become a magpie of terminology which he deploys to a largely clueless media.
9. To the average person it sounds like he has a grasp of the issues, but any trade professional will tell you that what comes out of that man's mouth is a jumble of contradictory nonsense and outright lies.
10. It goes down well with the Brexit herd because they do like to be told that Brexit is simpler than it looks and can be accomplished faster and without compromises or trade-offs. Populism 101. I shouldn't even call them Brexiters because they aren't.
11. And being that MPs are generally sheep and go along with whatever idea has momentum, otherwise well-intentioned have signed up to some of the most ludicrous ideas. Hearing Kate Hoey, supposedly a socialist parroting IEA free market dogma is astonishing.
12. Most of the genuine eurosceptic "thinkers" don't actually do any thinking anymore. Much of their rhetoric is over 25 years old and it hasn't been updated since - even though the EU is a very different animal now with a whole new array of faults and problems.
13. In fact I'm not sure there are any genuine eurosceptic thinkers left in the Commons. There may be one or two in the Lords who ironically see the democratic deficit, but in the main modern Brexitism is about advancing far economic right ideas with no regard to democracy.
14. It's actually not surprising at all that the eurosceptic movement has been so easily hijacked. That essentially was the function of the IEA sockpuppet thinktanks like the TPA. Ukip voluntarily surrendered its ownership of the issue long ago by refusing to invest in planning.
15. So this power struggle in the Tory party is not a fight for "the one true Brexit". Really it's just a grubby little clan of self-servers making a grab for high office. The have support having (successfully) painted May's plan as "BINO" through their "BrexitCentral" organ.
16. Being that their gophers and functionaries are teenage girlies (of both sexes) none of them have a clue as the the agenda in play and they genuinely believe the crap they spout. Not least because obedience is richly rewarded. See Grimes, Darren.
17. Brexit means that the ultra economic right are closer to power now than at any time in the last thirty years. They are considerably more radical than thatcher ever was and not in any way conservative. They are money men through and through.
18. Now we are at a stage where Brexit is now synonymous with the Johnson-Mogg agenda where thanks to the bovine stupidity of their followers, anyone who isn't singing from the script isn't a real Brexiter. British politics is regressing into tribalism like never before.
19. Like a pack of lemmings, unquestioningly following the leader, are charging straight over the cliff to the accompaniment of all the pleasing rallying songs of Brexit. What awaits them is far from what was promised but JRM and Co don't care. It doesn't affect them.
20. So as you clamour for the resignation of May, keep in mind that the ERG brigade don't have a viable plan not least because they are not interested in a negotiated Brexit. They are using you. They don't give a tulip about Britain or Brexit. This is just a bank heist.
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