Between a Rock and a hard
Every Saturday afternoon, Sergeant Major Joseph Rodriguez leads a dozen of his men down Gibraltar’s Main Street. Keeping their muskets close, they pound the cobblestones, past Dorothy Perkins, past the Horseshoe pub, past Marks & Spencer. At last, in front of the Governor’s residence, the troops halt: it would not do to turn their backs on the Queen, even if it is only her portrait.
Once, this weekly reminder of the British territory’s victories over its Spanish neighbours was just for show. Now, Mr Rodriguez (he is not really an officer) and many of his fellow believe they are under threat again.
“If Britain votes Out, we are in big trouble,” said Mr Rodriguez, the 54-year-old president of Gibraltar’s re-enactment association. “Who is going to defend us?”
The 2.6-square mile outpost at the tip of Spain, best known for its apes, is the only British overseas territory to be given a say in the referendum on European Union membership. Its 23,000 votes will technically be counted as part of the South West England region. And, according to a poll by the Gibraltar Chronicle, 88 per cent of Gibraltarians will vote to stay.
Now Fabian Picardo, the territory’s chief minister, is pleading for voters in Britain to consider the effect of Brexit on the Rock.
“They should all be thinking about Gibraltar and all the other constituent parts of the decision,” he told
speaking as leader of the Socialist Labour Party, since his administration is currently in purdah. “Do we simply vote in our selfinterest?” Mr Picardo argues that the EU has prevented the Spanish from endangering the Rock, which has been British since 1704. Spain closed its border with the territory, placing a chokehold on its economy, for a dozen years under General Franco and only fully reopened it under international pressure a year before it joined the EU.