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Friday, January 18, 2019

Who Was On The Remain Side?



Just: 
Her Majesty's Government was for Remain. 
The leading opposition parties were for Remain. 
All the primary regional parties (but one
**) in Scotland (SNP), Wales (Plaid Cymru), and Northern Ireland (Sinn Fein**) were all for Remain. 
The Archbishop of CanterburyDo you really need me to tell you this?—was for Remain.
The EU was for Remain.
The diplomatic community was for Remain. 
Cameron, the incumbent Prime Minister, at No. 10 Downing Street, was for Remain, along with all his living predecessors: Brown (Is he still in the country?), Blair (Won't he ever leave the country?), and Major (Does he think anyone in the country is listening?A man's got to know his limitations.)
George Osborne, the incumbent Chancellor of the Exchequer, at No. 11 Downing Street, was for Remain, and he threatened the votersin his next proposed budgetshould they vote Leave. (You cannot so easily threaten voters who have a secret ballot!)
Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the opposition, was 100% for Remain. (But no one really believed him.) 
The majority of members of Parliament were for Remain. (I am using British-English here.)
President Obama was for Remain. (People did listen to him—then they voted the other way—just ask Frank Field.
The bureaucracy and the Bank of England were for Remain. (Go Team Canada!)
The labour unions were for Remain. 
(What would P.J. O'Rourke say?)
Academia was overwhelmingly for Remain. (What would P.J. O'Rourke say?)
Industry (e.g., the Confederation of British Industry) was for Remain. 
The BBC and the largest part of the media were for Remain. (Where is Bill Buckley when you need him?)
All the magazines were for RemainThe Spectator excepted. (Who says Fraser Nelson cannot do anything right?)
The actors & arts communities were for Remain. (As of yet, no British headliners have emigrated. Tell Mark Steyn.)
The vast majority of student activists were for Remain. (British-English again.)
Owen Jones and all the wannabe student activists were for Remain. 
Diana Mosley (had she lived past 2003) was for Remain. (Just ask Mark Steyn.)
The vast majority of the bar and the legal profession were for remain ... but I repeat myself. 

Now ask yourself: precisely, who was on the Leave side? 
Just some votersand what do they know? 

Seth Barrett Tillman, Who Was On The Remain Side?, New Reform Club (Jan. 18, 2019, 7:32 AM), <https://reformclub.blogspot.com/2019/01/who-was-on-remain-side.html>. 

**Compare E-mail from Rónán McLaughlin, Political Advisor, Sinn Fein, to Seth Barrett Tillman, (Jan. 18, 2019, 4:16 PM) ("Sinn Féin campaigned rigorously for a remain during the June 2016 EU referendum."), with Killian Foley-Walsh <https://twitter.com/Kilfalwol/status/1086236204574691329> ("As a point of order, the DUP campaigned for Leave, and SF didn’t register to campaign one way or the other."), and id. ("They [SF] were in favour of remain (or so they said...), but they bizarrely declined to campaign. It was and remains a very odd position."). Tillman: I regret my lack of clarity. As for the DUP—a regional party in Northern Ireland with 10 MPs at Westminster, it ....



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