Referendum inquests must look at both sides
Arron Banks may not be everyone’s cup of tea, as he often acknowledges himself. As a brash millionaire insurer, he backed the Nigel Farage-led Brexit organisation, Leave.eu. The source of his money is being investigated, amid allegations, hotly denied, that it might have come from Russia.
Mr Banks believes he is the target of a smear campaign and he has a point. Yesterday, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) issued a notice of intent to fine Leave.eu and Eldon Insurance £60,000 each for “serious breaches” of the law governing electronic marketing, plus another £15,000 for good measure. This from a regulator that has done precious little to stop millions of households being assailed on a daily basis by cold callers and PPI hucksters.
There appears to be a distinct lack of balance in the pursuit of Mr Banks and Leave.eu (which was not the official campaign) and the Remain side in the 2016 referendum. The commissioner, Elizabeth Denham, said the ICO was still looking at how the Remain side handled personal data, and whether there were any breaches of the law.
But it has to be asked why these two investigations were not carried out simultaneously and a comprehensive report published covering both sides. The focus on Mr Banks and Leave. EU – not just by the ICO but by the Electoral Commission as well – feels like a tendentious campaign to undermine the referendum result.
The implication is that the Leave side cheated, which is why the ICO’S conclusions have been seized on with such alacrity by Remain supporters. Not until page 53 of the ICO report do we find out that the Liberal Democrats sold the personal data of its party members to the campaigners Britain Stronger in Europe for a fee of £100,000.
The use of data analytics in political campaigning is clearly contentious. But it is absurd to imply there was equality of arms during the referendum campaign, when the Remain side had the entire machinery of government to bolster its case, along with big business, the EU, the Labour Party (half-heartedly) and the BBC. Was Barack Obama’s visit, with its entourage of Airforce One, back-up planes, Secret Service details and armoured limousines, counted as an electoral cost?
The unofficial Leave campaigners may well have cut corners to counter this onslaught; but it is time that equal scrutiny was applied to both sides.