Keith Richards finds inspiration in Henry VIII for a Brexit solution

HE HAS already conquered the world of rock and roll, gaining a reputation as one of his generation’s greatest hellraisers.

Keith Richards now has one other conquest in his sights, it appears: France. The Rolling Stone has joked he would cheerfully “invade France” as a solution to the question of whether Britain should stay in Europe, being “very Henry VIII” about his views of world domination.

“We’re sitting here talking about is Britain In or Out?” he said.

“Personally, I don’t give a damn. Personally, I’d invade France. I’d be very Henry VIII, I’d be Edward III about it.”

In an interview with Radio Times, he said he was far more concerned about surveillance than Brexit, adding: “I’m more interested in what other people feel about authority. There’s cameras everywhere. Big Brother has arrived, and we all think it’s for our own safety.

“Maybe it is, maybe it ain’t... I don’t know about a society where you all think you have to spy on each other. And I don’t want to get too deep, but I could live without religion.

“Everybody’s looking over their shoulder! There’s an element of fear. And certain guys have engineered it that way. Maybe it’s good to be frightened for a while, I don’t know.

“But it’s in the air, that element of fear... I’m used to cops, I ask for it – I don’t wish it on society. But it’s there, whether you wish it or not.”

Richards, who has taken part in a television documentary about his life, gave an insight into the origins as a rebel, after he was rejected from his school choir when his voice broke.

After he and his friends, former star sopranos at Dartford Tech, were made to repeat a year because they had missed work due to singing, he said: “It wasn’t fair. But that was when the idea of rebellion took seed. Before that it was all, ‘Yes sir, no sir.’ ” ‘Keith Richards: the Origin of the Species’, is on BBC Two on July 29