Chaos at the ‘Stronger in Europe’ launch as Stuart Rose drops ‘quitters’ jibe

The launch of the Britain Stronger In Europe (BSE) campaign this morning was embarrassing and shambolic. Comments briefed out by Sir Stuart Rose, the ex-M&S chief who is chairing the BSE campaign, included a section about patriotism and labelled those campaigning for a Brexit as ‘quitters’:

‘Those who want us to leave Europe would risk our prosperity, threaten our safety and diminish our influence in the world. We know our economy would take a hit, we just don’t know how bad it would be. The Quitters cannot say how our diminished status would impact on our relationship with the US or China or the Commonwealth countries. Leaving Europe is taking leap into the dark. It’s just not worth the risk.’

But when the speech was actually delivered, the reference to  ‘quitters’ had mysteriously vanished. Although Sir Stuart made a quick exit before taking questions from the media, Paul Waugh of the Huffington Post asked Stronger In’s Will Straw about ‘quitters’, who suggested there was a last minute change:

Just asked Will Straw why Rose didn't use speech draft "quitters" line: "He edited the speech this morning + delivered it in his own words"

— Paul Waugh (@paulwaugh) October 12, 2015

In response to the change, Rob Oxley, a spokesman for the Vote Leave campaign told Coffee House:

‘The In campaign are already in chaos, they’ve dropped a line they were briefing the press. We haven’t questioned their patriotism, we’ve only questioning their judgement. This is hardly the way you’d want to kick off the campaign – calling people names then retracing it’.

On the launch overall, Dominic Cummings, who is heading up Vote Leave, says BSE is same message from the same people:

‘The EU-funded BSE campaign is led by people who told us Britain would be doomed unless we ditched the pound. They’ve learned nothing from the disasters of the euro project and the inability of the EU to cope with the economic and technological forces changing the world. The BSE campaign has nothing to offer but the same clichés the Foreign Office has spouted since the Suez disaster.’

Given that the campaign was launched in a former East London brewery, the Stronger In campaign risks looking like a project of the metropolitan elite — not one that is in touch with ordinary voters. As well as Rose’s refusal to take questions, the last minute change in tone suggests the In campaign can’t even organise a launch in a brewery.

---

The Spectator is hosting an evening discussion ‘Is the EU bad for business?’ at 7pm on Tuesday 20 October at The Royal College of Surgeons, WC2. Speakers include: Dominic Cummings, director of the ‘No’ campaign and Will Straw, executive director of the ‘Yes to Europe’ campaign and is chaired by Andrew Neil. For tickets and further information, click here.