Boris Johnson’s imminent departure has been greeted with enthusiasm by all the usual suspects: millionaire celebs, Labour MPs, Tory wets and of course Dominic Cummings. But for one group of sworn Boris-bashers, the departure of their mortal foe offers a useful call to arms: unrepentant Remainers.
Perusing the popular ‘Work 4 MP’ jobs site this morning, Mr S was struck by an advert for Best for Britain, the former stop Brexit crusade now rebranded as a ‘civil society campaign.’ Chaired by Kim Darroch, the continuity Remain outfit spent much of 2021 railing against Boris Johnson, pumping out graphics describing the PM as ‘an international stain on our reputation’ and trying to make a Brexit culture war out of Covid.
Now, with Johnson gone, BfB is now hiring for a new £35,000 ‘communities and campaigns manager to ‘influence policy change in government and within opposition parties.’ It seems that the group has cash to burn: no less than seven different adverts have been posted in these past seven weeks for jobs with salaries worth a combined total of £200,000.
Extra staff aren’t the only way that BfB is flexing its financial muscles. It recently began a fresh Facebook advert campaign, spending £2,000 this week alone on messages about ambulance waiting times and the need for ‘a government that will fund our NHS properly.’ It’s part of more than £1 million spent on the site since October 2018. Hardly surprising considering that the group currently wants ‘large seven-figure donations from companies’, HNW [high net-worth] individuals, and grant-making organisations.’
Along with the adverts and the extra staff is support for Boris’s critics in parliament too. Hilary Benn, the Labour MP who chaired the Brexit Select Committee, has declared more than £120,000 worth of support from BfB in the past 15 months alone. This has been provided in his capacity as the ‘co-convenor’ of the UK Trade and Business Commission, for which BfB provides the secretariat. So balanced is this Commission that just one Tory MP now sits on it; Sir Roger Gale, Boris Johnson’s most ardent Conservative critic in the Commons.
Is Best for Britain the worst of Remain? Brexit-backers will just be hoping that Johnson’s forthcoming departure doesn’t give succour to the likes of Benn, Gale and their supporters.
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