‘Killjoy Jo’ scraps Lib Dems’ crude slogan
JO SWINSON was branded a humourless ‘killjoy’ last night for allegedly axeing the Liberal Democrats’ crude ‘Bollocks to Brexit’ slogan.
Insiders at the anti-Brexit party claimed the ‘prim’ party leader had quietly ditched the controversial war cry dreamt up under predecessor Sir Vince Cable’s leadership. They claimed Ms Swinson, who took over in July, had suffered a ‘sense of humour failure’ by scrapping the wording.
Party officials hit back last night to claim the slogan was only ever intended as a ‘limited edition’ for last May’s European elections. But one senior Lib Dem said ‘Bollocks to Brexit’ had caught the public mood and would have survived if Sir Vince was still running the party. He said: ‘Yes, it was crude but it was funny, for God’s sake.
‘And you can’t argue it didn’t get the voters’ attention. Sadly, it’s been scrapped by killjoy Jo who is not exactly renowned for her sense of humour.’
Another said: ‘I’m afraid it does feel that under Jo Swinson feminist puritanism is on the march in the party.’ Sources said the slogan was originally devised by aides to then-leader Sir Vince who never expected him to sign it off. But he did and it became a major part of the party’s Euro elections campaign, with newly elected Lib Dem MEPs sparking a storm by sporting the T-shirts as they arrived for work.
Sir Vince himself defended the so-called ‘coarse’ slogan, saying: ‘There’s something called humour’, and argued it was an attempt to get the Remain message across ‘in a more pungent way’. Allies of Ms Swinson last night dismissed the notion she lacked a sense of humour, saying that she had defended the slogan as a ‘slightly light-hearted term’.
The slogan row comes after a split in the party over Ms Swinson’s new hardline policy to cancel Brexit without holding another referendum.
The controversial policy was approved at the party’s conference in September.
But speaking at a meeting of MPs who back leaving the EU with a deal, senior Lib Dem Norman Lamb – who has now stood down as an MP – raised concerns over the policy change.
However, Ms Swinson has said: ‘We got into this mess as a result of having a referendum and this is the only satisfactory way out of it.’