Johnson’s £100m Brexit ad campaign

Prime Minister launches biggest post-war marketing operation as he orders ministers to go full-throttle on no-deal preparations

BORIS JOHNSON is to launch the biggest advertising campaign since the Second World War to get Britain ready for a no-deal Brexit, with an unprecedented marketing blitz on billboards, radio and television.

The Prime Minister yesterday ordered his ministers to go into overdrive to prepare for a no-deal exit, with daily briefings on progress in the Cabinet Office’s Cobra briefing room – a place normally reserved for co-ordinating responses to national emergencies.

Part of the preparations involve up to £100 million spent on advertising alone in the next three months, government sources said.

It came as it emerged that Liz Truss, the International Trade Secretary, will this week start preliminary work on negotiating a trade deal with the US before

‘We are turbo charging preparations for no deal and that is the Government’s number one priority’

the UK leaves the European Union on Thursday, Oct 31.

Ms Truss is due to meet Woody Johnson, the US ambassador to the UK, this week before flying to Washington for talks with Wilbur Ross and Robert Lighthizer, her American counterparts, about the deal later next month.

In an article for today’s Daily Telegraph, Ms Truss makes clear that privatising parts of the NHS was a “red line” for the UK government in any trade talks, saying that the health service “will not be put up for sale”.

Sajid Javid, the Chancellor, will set out plans this week for an extra £1billion of spending on preparations for a no-deal exit.

Part of this will see funds splashed on the new public information campaign, dwarfing the lacklustre radio and internet campaign run by the Government before the March 29

Brexit deadline this year.

The new campaign, which could include a no-deal preparation leaflet delivered to every home in the country, will be much bigger than the “Tell Sid” bid to encourage the public to buy shares at the privatisation of British Gas and “Aids – Don’t Die of Ignorance” television, radio and newspaper awareness campaigns of the Eighties.

One Treasury source said: “I can’t imagine there has been a bigger ‘comms’ campaign than this since the War. It is a pretty huge thing for a ‘comms’ campaign.”

Ministers said the extra spending was part of a “real step up in activity” on no-deal planning.

Rishi Sunak, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said: “We are turbo charging preparations for no deal and that is now the Government’s number one priority.” The objective, he said, was to force the Brussels negotiators to remove the Northern Irish backstop from the EU Withdrawal Agreement to allow the UK to leave with a deal by Oct 31.He told Sky News: “We want to remove this undemocratic backstop from the existing agreement but if the EU is not willing to talk about that, then it’s right that we prepare properly with conviction.”

Mr Johnson is due to travel to Scotland today with a promise to spend £300 million on communities across the UK amid concerns north of the border over a no-deal Brexit.

Prior to his departure, his Cabinet convened at lunchtime yesterday by phone for an hour to approve three new committees that are intended to accelerate preparations for leaving the EU without a deal by Hallowe’en.

The three committees are intended to bring to an end the delays which beset the Brexit committees established under Mr Johnson’s predecessor, Theresa May. The Prime Minister told his

Cabinet that he “wished to avoid committees of the past which had not moved quickly enough, did not result in actions or accountability and were often undermined by parallel structures”, No10 said.

“[The] Cabinet agreed this would send a clear message about the Government’s plans to deliver Brexit,” the source added. Under the plans, Mr Johnson and Michael Gove, the Chancellor to the Duchy of Lancaster, will convene a “War Cabinet” of six key ministers including Steve Barclay, the Brexit Secretary, and Sajid Javid, the Chancellor, to monitor progress.

This Exit Strategy Committee will meet on Mondays and Thursdays. Mr Gove will also co-chair with Mr Sunak a separate daily meeting in the Cobra room to monitor progress and “kick important issues” to Mr Johnson where necessary. The Cabinet was told that “live actions, deadlines and accountability [will] be on the screens of Cobra at every meeting and minutes will be circulated immediately after” from a “Daily Operations Committee”.

Mr Johnson will convene a third group called the “Exit Economy and Trade Committee”. It will meet regularly and will focus on “Britain’s future relationships around the world”. The membership of all three committees is due to be published later today.

One Downing Street source said that holding “the daily meetings show that we are serious about no deal.” The source said that people should not get carried away by suggesting Cobra had been “convened” to tackle a crisis.

The room, officially known as Cabinet Office Briefing Room A, was the

‘The Cabinet agreed there is a very clear message that we are serious about getting ready to leave on Oct 31’

most convenient because of the screens and IT available there. The source added: “The Cabinet agreed there is a very clear message that we are serious about what we are doing and getting ready to leave on Oct 31.”

Mr Johnson’s ministerial reshuffle continued yesterday with the appointment of Amanda Milling, Jeremy Quin and Stuart Andrew to the Government whips office. Johnny Mercer, the highly regarded former British Army officer, joins the Ministry of Defence and Cabinet Office as a minister.