People’s Vote campaign descends into chaos

Oh dear. As Boris Johnson attempts to call a general election, this could be the week that supporters of a second referendum get together and push for a so-called people’s vote before any snap poll. One of the big Tory worries is that a majority of MPs could coalesce around such a position. However, that currently looks unlikely. Instead, the People’s Vote campaign is consumed with infighting. On Sunday night, Roland Rudd – the outgoing chairman of Open Britain, one of the five groups that make up People’s Vote – emailed staff to announce that he had asked People’s Vote staff James McGrory, the director, and Tom Baldwin, the head of communications, to leave with immediate effect. In their place, he would bring in Patrick Heneghan, the former head of campaigns for the Labour party. The idea is that this restructuring will put the campaign in better shape moving forward. Only not everyone agrees.