Boris
Johnson makes final pitch for British ‘Independence Day’
Scottish
Tory leader Ruth Davidson and London Mayor Sadiq Khan lead fightback
in Brexit ‘Great Debate.’
By TOM MCTAGUE AND
ALEX SPENCE 6/22/16, 12:28 AM CET Updated 6/22/16, 5:47 AM CET
LONDON — Boris
Johnson cannot be accused of missing an opportunity.
“If we vote leave
and take back control,” he bellowed, closing Tuesday night’s
final TV debate of the campaign, “this Thursday can be our
country’s independence day.”
Expect the phrase to
be plastered all over the papers Wednesday, the final day of
campaigning before the country goes to the polls.
Johnson’s appeal
certainly got at least half the crowd out of their seats at Wembley
Arena, the venue for the two hour “Great Debate” which just about
managed to rise to the occasion.
Brexit supporters
packed into the hall could be seen punching the air in delight as the
cameras panned over the audience.
But was it too much?
Johnson’s closing remarks may have appealed to the Brexit base, but
those worrying about the economic hit of leaving are unlikely to have
been moved by the call to “believe in Britain.” That, at least,
is Downing Street’s great hope.
Throughout the
night, the Remain campaign did an effective, and at times passionate,
job taking on the Outers by exposing the risks of voting to leave the
European Union.
Ruth Davidson, the
Tories’ bright hope who leads the party in Scotland, was front of
the charge, taking on her colleagues Johnson and Andrea Leadsom.
Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, was given the task of convincing
working class voters to back the EU, despite their concerns over
immigration.
Yet Remain’s
choices to front their campaign Tuesday belied a weakness. It was, at
its heart, a core vote strategy. They now desperately need London and
Scotland to vote to stay — and heavily. Frances O’Grady, the
leader of the Trades Union Congress, made up the panel in a bid to
reach out to ordinary workers.
After two hours of
back and forth over well-trodden ground, Britain’s army of
undecided voters could be forgiven for emerging none the wiser.
In truth, that may
not be a bad result for David Cameron. If in doubt, the status quo
may prevail. But no one in Number 10 would bet on it at the moment.
Here are five
takeaways from a night which may have swung Britain’s future —
and that of the EU:
1. Sadiq versus
Boris: A vision of the future?
It was the battle of
the London mayors, past and present, who both have an eye on greater
things.
Sadiq Khan, the
pocket rocket Londoner with the keys to City Hall, used the occasion
to relentlessly target his predecessor.
Again and again,
Khan went after Johnson for his alleged EU flip-flopping.
Jumping in early on,
the former Tooting MP brought up his predecessor’s ex-economic
adviser Patrick Minford, who has warned against leaving the EU. Why
didn’t he listen to the experts, Khan demanded?
He wasn’t done
targeting Johnson. Later, he quoted him directly telling a radio
station there was no chance of Turkey joining the EU. “Boris, why
have you suddenly changed your mind?”
“Let’s deal with
this big fat lie once and for all,” Khan said. “You are using the
prospect of Turkey joining as a ruse to scare people.”
Later, the London
mayor attacked Johnson for the Brexit campaign’s focus on
immigration and accused him of taking down the country.“You should
know better,” he said.
It was a robust
performance on a national stage for Khan that will do nothing to
dampen talk of a future leadership bid. But Johnson held his own
throughout the exchanges, at one point shouting back:“Oh rubbish
Sadiq.”
It could’ve been
Prime Minister’s Questions. One day it might be.
2. Labour voters
hold the key
With 24 hours to go,
the key battleground is clear: wavering Labour voters.
When each side was
given the chance to put forward an opening speaker, both chose
Labour. First up was Gisela Stuart, the Bavarian-born MP who has
become a star of the Brexit campaign.
She paid tribute to
the EU’s initial dreams, but said it had “turned into a
nightmare,” attacking the unemployment crisis in Greece and Spain.
Take back control,
she said, in a taste of things to come. “You will decide who makes
decisions about the future of this country.”
Khan was next up,
for Remain. It is the “most important decision of a generation,”
he said, echoing David Cameron earlier in the day. “If we’re out,
we’re out,” he added, just as the prime minister had warned.
Labour members may
scratch their heads over why Jeremy Corbyn refuses to share a
platform with the PM, but their London mayor is happy to quote him
directly.
Remain’s decision
to field the TUC leader Frances O’Grady was also clearly aimed at
wavering working class workers. Brits would be £38 a week worse off
outside the EU, she claimed. Rights were under threat, the Tories
couldn’t be trusted. She looked emotional throughout, but may prove
an effective campaigner for voters looking for voices outside
Westminster party politics.
She also managed to
land a major blow on immigration, demanding to know if the promised
numbers would fall outside the EU. “It’s a con,” she shouted.
“We don’t want a slogan, it’s a con.” It was effective hit.
3. Raise the Ruth
Ruth Davidson, a
37-year-old former BBC journalist and soldier, was a rising star in
the Conservative party after a better-than-expected result in the
recent Scottish elections — and her stock will soar after Tuesday’s
performance.
Undaunted at the
prospect of arguing opposite the potential next Conservative leader
(Johnson), she was lively, forceful, and sharp-witted. She didn’t
swing as ferociously at Johnson as Khan did, but Davidson’s best
attack lines may win over more floating voters. “You don’t fund
schools and hospitals, and you don’t control immigration, by
crashing the economy, and that’s what leaving the EU would do,”
she argued. And later: “They’ve got a poster in this campaign,
got a slogan in this campaign, but they don’t have a plan.”
Delivering the
closing statement, she said: I know the EU isn’t perfect, but the
benefits far outweigh any costs. And the Britain that I know, the
Britain that I love, works with its friends and neighbors, it doesn’t
walk away from them.”
After the debate,
some Tories jokingly wondered whether Davidson could become their
next leader. Not yet, but don’t count it out some day.
4. Project Hate
Throughout the
campaign, the Leave camp has undermined the Remain side’s strongest
arguments, on the economy, by dismissing the warnings as
“scaremongering” — as “Project Fear” — while at the same
time making their own dark warnings about the risks of free movement
of people.
With a long section
of Tuesday’s debate allocated to arguing about immigration, the
Remainers belatedly tried to turn their weakest argument around,
casting Leave’s preoccupation with immigration as narrow and
isolationist.
Khan went even
further, firing one of the night’s most quotable zingers at
Johnson: “You might start off with platitudes about how wonderful
immigration is, but your campaign has been not been project fear, it
has been project hate as far as immigration is concerned.”
5. Spare us the
soundbites
By now, the slogans
and talking points on both sides are tediously familiar. Project
Fear. Stronger, safer, better in. A leap in the dark. The Leave
side’s “take back control” had been one of the most effective,
but was trotted out so many times on Tuesday night that it started to
seem glib and robotic. At one point, Energy Minister Andrea Leadsom
was booed after using it one too many times.
Authors:
Tom McTague and
Alex Spence
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