Vote Leave
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Part of the Powerbase Brexit Portal. |
Vote Leave was the official 'leave' cross-party campaign group seeking withdrawal from the European Union in the United Kingdom's referendum held on 23 June 2016.
The campaign counted six members of the Conservative political cabinet in its senior ranks and included the then-justice minister Michael Gove (now environment secretary).
Being designated as the official leave campaign over Nigel Farage's Grassroots Out, Vote Leave had access to up to £7 million it raised itself, as well as £600,000 of taxpayer money to make its case for leaving the European Union. [1]
The 'Vote Leave' campaign secured a 'Leave' vote from the British electorate on 23 June 2016, taking 51.9% of the vote and producing a majority of 1,269,501 votes. [2]
Contents
Staff
- Matthew Elliott, CEO
- Dominic Cummings, campaign director
- Paul Stephenson, communications director
- Stephen Parkinson, organiser of the ground operation
- Alex Hickman, outreach director
- Robert Oxley, Head of Media
- James Starkie, regional press lead; then worked for Portland Communications on its Brexit lobbying team; and in Oct 2017 became Michael Gove's special adviser.
- Lee Rotheram - director of special projects; works for John Hayes MP. [3]
Key political figures
- Boris Johnson - Conservative Party, former Mayor of London (2012-16)
- Michael Gove - Conservative Party - Secretary of state for Justice, Lord Chancellor
- Chris Grayling- Leader of the House of Commons
- Gisela Stuart - Labour Party - Chair of Vote Leave
- Graham Stringer - Labour Party
- Douglas Carswell - UKIP
- Suzanne Evans - UKIP
- Lord Nigel Lawson - Former Conservative chancellor
- Lord David Owen - Former leader of the SDP [4]
Strategy
Lobbying firm Weber Shandwick comments: 'The strategy of Vote Leave appears clear from the outset. It is to present the ‘out’ camp as representing the people and an ambitious vision for the future, set against the establishment vision of a Europe largely representing the interests of big corporate bosses.'[5]
British press biased in favour of Brexit
The press coverage on the UK's EU referendum is 'heavily skewed in favour of Brexit', a report by Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism has shown. Of the articles analysed in the research, 45% were in favour of a Brexit vote, while just 27% were in favour of remaining. The research also revealed that Conservative Party figures were far more likely to be quoted by publications, with a 69% share to the Labour Party's 14%.
The newspapers considered to have the least balance in terms of their coverage were the Daily Express and the Mirror, with most other publications attempting to cover the alternative view from their designated position. [6]
Big 'Vote Leave' donor turns out to be former BNP
Gladys Bramall, one of Vote Leave's biggest individual donors, has told news-site Buzzfeed that she was formerly a member of the far-right British National Party. The 88-year old, who has donated a total of £600,000 to the campaign (making her the third biggest individual donor) has her name appear on a leaked BNP membership list from 2006, when the party was being led by the notorious Nick Griffin, who has since left the part.
When contacted by Buzzfeed, Bramall confirmed that she would be found on the list, but that her husband Leonard Bramall had done it when signing himself up without her knowledge. 'My husband joined, he obviously enrolled me at the same time', she confirmed.
Michael Gove, current Justice secretary and one of the key political figures spearheading the case for leaving the EU, responded in the following fashion when questioned on the issue:
- 'I utterly abhor and reject the politics of the BNP and the people who support it...If this money comes from someone whose views are objectionable, then of course we’ll do everything that we can to make sure that money that comes from any tainted source is returned and plays no part in the campaign.'[7]
Brexit MPs demand Cameron set departure date
Conservative Party backbenchers are threatening Prime Minister David Cameron with a potential leadership challenge if he does not set out a retirement date after the EU referendum. The news comes in the wake of the Treasury paper published on 23 May 2016, which forecast recession and the loss of 820,000 jobs in the result of Brexit, and which has deepened the unhappiness with Cameron felt by swathes of Tory backbenchers. The Daily Mail claims that some MPs have already written letters of no confidence to Graham Brady, chair of the 1922 Committee.
If 50 MPs write letters of this kind, a vote of no confidence is automatically triggered, and would be the first since Conservative Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin's resignation in 1924. A Tory MP told the Mail: 'If there is a narrow win for Remain, and he is still in office after 23 June, the only way he is going to avoid a vote of no-confidence is to name the date when he is going to go...People want a date when they know that he will be gone. There is real anger.'
The Sun says that discontent in light of the Treasury paper even extends into the government, with two ministers said to have told Brexit MPs they were considering resignation. Other sources say that Chancellor George Osborne will also be in the firing line: 'How the f*** are they going to put the party back together after all this? It’s at breaking point now. There are some very principled colleagues backing Brexit who are just spitting today. George has gone too far this time.' [8]
Cameron 'plotting against' Vote Leave
Vote Leave have accused David Cameron of being 'knee deep in a conspiracy' to remain in the EU, as letters were leaked showing the Prime Minister's correspondence with big business surrounding its potential role in the Remain campaign, long before his attempts at renegotiation were finished. The letter in question concerns Serco's chief executive, Rupert Soames, who wrote to Cameron regarding talks they had had in early February and his plan to request that FTSE 500 companies mention the risks of 'Brexit' in their annual reports. At this time however, Mr Cameron still entertained the idea that if his negotiations were unsuccessful, he could campaign for a leave vote alongside some of his Tory colleagues, but has since come out strongly in favour of Britain's continued membership.
Gisela Stuart, chair of Vote Leave has said the PM has 'serious issues' to answer and observed the irony of the Chancellor George Osborne's mocking of Brexit campaigners as 'conspiracy theorists': 'George Osborne accused the Leave campaign of inventing conspiracies. Now we see that David Cameron is knee deep in one.' [9]
Vote Leave embroiled in race row
The Vote Leave campaign has come under fire for 'stoking the fires of prejudice' by arguing that Turkey's supposed joining of the EU by 2020 will pose a threat to the security of British citizens. The report by the Brexit campaign asserts that Turkey's higher levels of criminality and gun ownership offer evidence for this claim, and defence minister Penny Mordaunt made a statement in support of this.
A campaign statement said the following: 'Since the birthrate in Turkey is so high, we can expect to see an additional million people added to the UK population from Turkey alone within eight years.This will not only increase the strain on Britain’s public services, but it will also create a number of threats to UK security. Crime is far higher in Turkey than the UK. Gun ownership is also more widespread. Because of the EU’s free movement laws, the government will not be able to exclude Turkish criminals from entering the UK.'
Trevor Phillips, former chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, said that while immigration is certainly an issue that needs robustly debating, the leave campaign had hit a new low: 'There really isn’t any doubt that what they are appealing to here is straightforward prejudice. I can’t imagine what the sizeable, law-abiding, industrious Turkish community in the UK must feel when they hear this.This appears to be a straightforward admission that the Leave campaign has lost on every rational argument and now it is simply trying to stoke the fires of prejudice.' [10]
Donors
Recorded by the Electoral Commission:
| Date | Name of donor | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| 20/04/2016 | Patrick Barbour | £500,000.00 |
| 10/03/2016 | Peter Cruddas | £350,000.00 |
| 19/04/2016 | Terence Adams | £500,000.00 (two donations) |
| 23/03/2016 | Michael Farmer | £300,000.00 (two donations) |
| 07/04/2016 | Jeremy Hosking | £815,500.00 (five donations) |
| 24/03/2016 | Stuart Wheeler | £615,000.00 (FIVE donations) |
| 21/03/2016 | David Lilley | £150,000.00 (two donations) |
| 14/03/2016 | Michael Freeman | £348,000.00 (four donations) |
| 17/03/2016 | Robert Hiscox | £50,000.00 |
| 10/04/2016 | Tim Martin | £212,000.00 (three donations) |
| 17/03/2016 | Jon Moynihan | £60,000.00 (two donations) |
| 28/04/2016 | WA Capital Ltd | £50,000.00 |
| 12/04/2016 | Harris Ventures Ltd | £50,000.00 |
| 17/03/2016 | Bristol Port Company | £50,000.00 |
| 08/04/2016 | Alan Halsall | £30,000.00 |
| 10/02/2016 | Quentin Skinner | £40,000.00 (two donations) |
| 01/04/2016 | Jardentome Ltd | £24,000.00 |
| 29/03/2016 | William Hobhouse | £20,000.00 |
| 23/03/2016 | Albert Wiegman | £28,000.00 (two donations) |
| 01/02/2016 | Alan Morgan | £15,000.00 |
| 23/02/2016 | Seaway Holdings | £15,000.00 |
| 29/02/2016 | Alexander Darwall | £25,000.00 (two donations) |
| 17/03/2016 | Brian Kingham | £15,000.00 |
| 24/03/2016 | Rocco Forte | £42,000.00 (two donations) |
| 18/04/2016 | Biwater Holdings Ltd | £12,000.00 |
| 29/02/2016 | Ivor Braka | £10,000.00 |
| 29/02/2016 | Shaftesbury Investments | £45,000.00 (three donations) |
| 14/04/2016 | Leslie Kaye | £10,000.00 |
| 04/04/2016 | Stanley Kalms | £30,000.00 (three donations) |
| 07/03/2016 | Bruce McLain | £10,000.00 |
| 20/04/2016 | Matthew Ferrey | £10,000.00 |
| 22/03/2016 | David Leathers | £30,000.00 (three donations) |
| 11/03/2016 | Andrew White | £10,000.00 |
| 16/03/2016 | Jon Moulton | £10,000.00 |
| 06/04/2016 | Michael Cowdray | £10,000.00 |
| 05/04/2016 | Mote Hall Limited | £10,000.00 |
| 03/06/2016 | Diana Van Nievelt Price | £1,000,000.00 |
| 25/04/2016 | IM Group | £850,000.00 |
| 09/05/2016 | Gladys Bramall | £600,000.00 (two donations) |
| 17/05/2016 | The Electoral Commission | £600,000.00 (two donations) |
| 19/05/2016 | Jonathan Wood | £500,000.00 (two donations) |
| 25/05/2016 | SevenTowns Ltd | £200,000.00 |
| 01/06/2016 | Jeremy Knight Adams | £100,000.00 |
| 18/05/2016 | Paul Marshall | £100,000.00 |
| 25/05/2016 | Roger Bootle | £100,000.00 |
| 03/06/2016 | JC Bamford Excavators | £300,000.00 (three donations) |
| 24/05/2016 | Simon Wolfson | £50,000.00 |
| 25/05/2016 | Peter Hall | £30,000.00 |
| 09/05/2016 | Roydon | £25,000.00 |
| 27/04/2016 | B.E. Wedge Holdings | £25,000.00 |
| 04/05/2016 | Interfish | £25,000.00 |
| 01/06/2016 | Annabel Goldsmith | £25,000.00 |
| 11/05/2016 | Shore Capital Group | £25,000.00 |
| 25/05/2016 | Tessa Keswick | £20,000.00 |
| 10/05/2016 | James Christopher Miller | £12,500.00 |
| 10/05/2016 | Monica Miller | £12,500.00 |
| 12/05/2016 | St James Company | £12,000.00 |
| 11/05/2016 | Geoffrey de Jager | £10,000.00 |
| 24/05/2016 | Sir John MacTaggart Baronet | £10,000.00 |
| 04/05/2016 | Robert Kirkland | £10,000.00 |
| 09/05/2016 | Jeremy Woolridge | £10,000.00 |
| 04/05/2016 | David Roper | £10,000.00 |
| 11/05/2016 | IC Technology UK | £10,000.00 |
| 18/05/2016 | AGD Equipment | £10,000.00 |
| 04/05/2016 | David Stevens | £10,000.00 |
| 03/05/2016 | J Reid & Sons | £10,000.00 |
| 09/05/2016 | Sir Patrick Sheehy | £10,000.00 |
| 31/05/2016 | Nicholas Peter Lewis | £10,000.00 |
| 03/06/2016 | Pratap Shirke | £19,994.00 |
| 17/05/2016 | David Peacock | £9,000.00 |
| 28/04/2016 | David Dutton | £8,000.00 |
Notes
- ↑ Heather Stewart, 'Vote leave official Brexit campaign EU referendum Boris Johnson', Guardian Online, 13 April 2016, accessed 16 May 2016
- ↑ 'EU referendum: the result in maps', 24 June 2016, BBC News, accessed 24 June 2016
- ↑ Register of interests of members' secretaries and research assistants, 23 March 2016, parliament.uk, accessed 20 April 2016
- ↑ Brian Wheeler, Alex Hunt 'The UK's EU Referendum: All you need to know', 12 May 2016, BBC News, accessed 13 May 2016
- ↑ Whos Who, Weber Shandwick website, 3 Dec 2015
- ↑ Samuel Osborne, 'EU referendum national press biased in favour of Brexit says study' 23 May 2016, Independent, accessed 23 May 2016
- ↑ Jim Waterson, 'Former BNP Member Has Given £600,000 To Vote Leave', 21 June 2016, Buzzfeed.com, accessed 23 June 2016
- ↑ Josh May, 'Tory Brexit MPs demand David Cameron give a resignation date', 24 May 2016, Politics Home, accessed 24 May 2016
- ↑ Charlie Cooper, 'EU referendum: Leaked letter 'shows how Cameron plotted against Leave', 17 May 2016, The Independent, accessed 17 May 2016
- ↑ Daniel Boffey, Toby Helm, 'Vote Leave prejudice Turkey EU Security threat', 21 May 2016, Guardian, accessed 23 May 2016
- ↑ Electoral Commission, Vote Leave Donation Search, accessed 23 June 2016
