THE DEAD LEADERS

Margaret Thatcher

The Iron Lady has been claimed by both sides in the Brexit debate. Thatcher was an instrumental supporter of the 1975 referendum that brought Britain into the proto-EU. But in the latter years of her career, she resisted the bureaucratic growth of the organization — and has been blamed for kick-starting an antagonism with Brussels that persists to this day.

Winston Churchill

Churchill, who died even before the term “European Union” was a thing, has also been wheeled out as a mascot by both pro and anti-Brexiteers. Churchill was a British exceptionalist and a staunch advocate for global free trade, which would have put him at odds with an EU that is essentially a tariff-protected trade bloc. But Churchill also spoke of a “United States of Europe” as early as 1946.

Adolf Hitler

Naturally, no European political debate is complete without a mention of Der Fuehrer. EU supporters contend that a European government is the best bulwark against a future Hitler. EU opponents, meanwhile, have charged that the organization itself is Hitler. A kind of single European authority is exactly what the German dictator was going for, albeit by “different methods,” claimed Boris Johnson.

Charles de Gaulle

Twice in the 1960s, French president Charles de Gaulle vetoed the entry of the U.K. into the European Economic Community. The Brits were too “insular,” too “maritime” to play nice in the budding Continental club, reasoned the former leader of Free French Forces. Should Brexit happen, several columnists have noted that it would have the unpleasant effect of proving de Gaulle right about something.