Farron’s close encounter of the Brexit kind
It’s the Lib Dem leader’s turn to be berated by a member of the public. This time an angry Leaver
WHETHER it’s being on the receiving end of a John Prescott punch or an insult from Gordon Brown, nothing upsets the rhythm of an election campaign quite like an impromptu meeting between a politician and the public.
That moment came yesterday morning when, during a routine walkabout by Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron, up popped Malcolm Baker.
As he later told The Daily Telegraph: “I had something I had to get off my chest.” And he certainly did.
Spotting a gap in the crowd of sup- porters around Mr Farron in Kidlington, north of Oxford, Mr Baker stepped forward, button-holed his man and began berating him over ver Brexit.
With Mr Farron struggling to get a word in – oh h how the tables are turned on n these occasions – Mr Baker let fly, accusing him of regarding anyone who voted to leave the EU as racist. “You think Leave voters are all racist,” he said, d, jabbing his finger. r. “I’m proud that t they’ll be comingg out of Europe and we’ll have our own policy and won’t have to pay a 100 billion bill to leave!”
Mr Farron tried in vain to point out that at some of his best friendsends had voted Leave and aren’t racists. But Mr Baker wouldwou have none of it. “Don’t tell peoplepe who voted Leave that they didn’t know what they were voting for,” he said. The sight of twotw men squaring up reminded political observers of the momentm in the 2001 electionelecti when Mr Prescott,Pres then Labour deputy,depu responded to a close-rangeclo egging withw a sharp left jab. But Mr Farron is a Lib Dem, and a committedco Christian,tia and appeared to take iti all with remarkably goodgo grace. Disap- pointingly he didn’t even mutter anything about his tormentor being “a bigot”, as Mr Brown said of voter Gillian Duffy after their ill-fated 2010 meeting.
And yet, what should have been a carefully stage managed photo-opportunity had been spectacularly hijacked by that most dangerous of political predators – a “member of the public”.
After his sudden propulsion into the national consciousness, Mr Baker, who turned 65 yesterday, explained why he felt compelled to confront Mr Farron. “I’m angry that we’re all being tarred as racists,” he said. “Everybody thinks that Leavers voted purely over immigration and we didn’t.
“Uncontrolled immigration and the impact it’s having on this country was a factor for some, I’m sure, but it was not the only reason... for me, and many others, the chief reason was the fact that our laws are being made in Europe by an unelected, unaccountable bureaucracy.”
Mr Baker, a lifelong Labour voter from Woodstock, was asked by Mr Farron if he could justify his vote to his grandchildren and he said he was proud to have chosen Brexit.
“We can’t predict the future, but in years to come I’ll be able to tell by nine-
‘I sit in my front room watching politicians spouting off and sometimes I just want to kick the TV’
month-old grandson, Alfie, that I voted to give Britain a chance to govern itself,” he said.
Mr Baker – who received an MBE in 2003 for raising money for charity as an Elvis Presley impersonator – said the EU “has become an uncontrollable beast”. The retired Royal Mail manager went on: “It’s too big, it’s too expensive, it’s got an accounting system that’s shot to pieces. Voting to leave means we have the opportunity to take control of our own destiny and make friends with the rest of the world.”
He admits Brexit has divided the country. Indeed, his daughter voted Remain while his son voted Leave. “She thinks I’m an idiot and he thinks I’m brilliant,” said Mr Baker. “Some people are calling me the village idiot.”
As if to prove the point, his niece Sarah Baker posted on Twitter: “Malcolm Baker is my uncle, and I’m absolutely bloody mortified. Maybe I should give up my maiden name after all.”
Reflecting later at home, Mr Baker said: “I sit in my front room watching politicians spouting off and sometimes I just want to kick the TV... seeing that Mr Farron was in my neighbourhood was just too good a chance to miss. I just felt I had to get what I think off my chest. And, to be fair, he was very nice about it.”