Former chamber chief to stand for Farage
We must send a message to the political establishment that we will not stand for their devious tactics
NIGEL FARAGE will today unveil a former head of the British Chambers of Commerce as the latest MEP candidate for the Brexit Party.
John Longworth, a Eurosceptic businessman, writes in The Daily Telegraph today that MPS have done “everything possible to frustrate, delay and undermine” Brexit.
He says Labour and the Tories have “lied... obfuscated and dissembled” in failing to fulfil the Leave result of the EU referendum.
He is the latest high-profile candidate to join Mr Farage’s new party. Last week, Annunziata Rees-mogg, the sister of Jacob, the Eurosceptic Tory MP, defected from the Conservatives.
Mr Longworth says: “It is time for a revolution in politics, a revolution which has historical precedent and is as much a part of the culture of Britain’s body politic as Parliament itself.
“Career politicians, policy wonks who make a career of becoming politicians, without ever having done anything else in life, make for feeble
‘You could fire a thousand party poppers in the House of Commons and not hit anyone who’s done business’
representatives. You could fire a thousand party poppers in the House of Commons and not hit anyone who has done business.
“You could pop a thousand champagne corks in the European Parliament (which they do regularly) and get the same result.” Mr Longworth says that Mrs May and her negotiators have been “incompetent”.
“No business would enter a negotiation unless prepared to walk away... giving away this right is the surest way of ensuring a bad deal,” he adds.
His criticism comes after Iain Duncan Smith, the former Conservative leader, called for Britain to quit the EU without a deal rather than take part in the European elections.
“I think what the Prime Minister has to do is aim everything now towards departure before the euros which would then allow her to step away having done what she said she would do – get the UK out of the European Union,” Mr Duncan Smith told Sophy Ridge on Sunday on Sky News.
“And then we can have another leadership election and pick a new leader.”
ATrojan group of MPS is fighting stoically to deliver the will of the British people. Yet the vast majority of our parliamentarians have done everything possible to frustrate, delay and undermine the democratic process. They are playing a dangerous game, which strikes at the heart of the social contract.
These same parliamentarians voted to hold the referendum, pledged to abide by its result, triggered Article 50 and set in law the date of leaving. In the manifestos on which they were elected, MPS from the two main parties committed to leave the EU, the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice, the single market and the customs union. They
have obfuscated and dissembled ever since.
Arrogant Remainer MPS like Hammond, Rudd and Letwin, supported by multinationals in the business groups and institutions such as the IMF and the BBC, try to convince the people of Britain that they were stupid and wrong to have voted for liberty and a brighter economic future, a future which would see those same well-heeded groups lose their advantage. Some members of the establishment have even colluded with foreign powers in the hope of maintaining the status quo.
During the March to Leave, which I helped to organise, I met patriotic people from all backgrounds and walks of life, who were beside themselves with fury. And no wonder. It is time for a revolution in politics, a revolution that has historical precedent and is as much a part of the culture of Britain’s body politic as Parliament itself.
Our representatives are political pygmies compared with those of past times. I wrote as much back in 2011 when I was appointed director general of the British Chambers of Commerce. Career politicians, policy wonks who make a career of becoming politicians, having done little else in life, make feeble representatives. You could fire a thousand party poppers in the House of Commons chamber and not hit anyone who has worked in business or created jobs. You could pop a thousand champagne corks in the European Parliament (which they do regularly) and get the same result.
No business would enter a negotiation unless prepared to walk away from the table; giving away this right is the surest way of ensuring a bad deal. This is just further proof that the establishment and our PM never wanted anything other than membership of the customs union and to keep Britain so close to the EU and so miserable in our serfdom that we should want to go back in. To paraphrase Shakespeare, they must either be fools or knaves. My money is on the latter.
I have worked in business throughout my life, as an entrepreneur and at board level, and have been involved in government. I have engaged in business on every continent save Antarctica and worked closely with international trade and standards. And my experiences have led me to conclude that trade bodies, particularly the CBI, either speak through ignorance or else deliberately promote the narrow vested interests of their controlling members at the expense of our country. Put together, they represent less than one in five businesses. Yet, as ever, the wounded shout loudest.
For the vast majority, however, leaving the EU will produce a major fillip to UK growth and reduce the cost of living as tariffs are removed. Most of our trade is already conducted under WTO rules. It may not suit protected German manufacturers and French farmers, but it will be great for Britain. Most of all, just leaving, as we should have aimed to do in the first place, will give business and investors the certainty they so desperately need.
That is why I have decided to join the Brexit Party’s political revolution as a candidate for the European Parliament. The party will allow people to send a clear message to our political establishment that we will not stand for their devious tactics any longer. And, so long as we remain in the EU’S orbit, it will guard our national interest in Brussels.
The enemies of a free and independent Britain should not rejoice yet. To true patriots, I say it will be all right in the end, and if it is not all right, it is not the end.