EU referendum: tactical dyslexia
Wednesday 7 August 2013
However, given the amount of work I am putting into the putative EU referendum campaign, I think I'm entitled to comment on any other player who is also in the game. And this one is telling Public Service Europe that a defeat in the 2017 referendum would be a personal end of the road.
"No free country ever willingly gives up the right to govern itself, and the independence argument won't die, but it will have been put back for a long time," Farage adds, but "If we reach that point in 2017, I will have been doing this a long time and if I haven't succeeded then I haven't succeeded".
That said, he then goes on to tell us: "I genuinely think that a referendum on this subject would be just like the debate on whether we should join the euro. The more air and the more publicity it gets, the more likely it would be that our side of the argument would win".
From that several points emerge. Why is it necessary for Farage to concede a point to Mr Cameron on the referendum, when there is not going to be a poll in 2017. Why does he thus have to undermine other commentators, who say there will not be a referendum?
True, in the main interview, he is asked to imagine there is a referendum in 2017, "as farfetched as it might seem at the moment", but that is simply an avoidable trap. Farage has been around long enough to know that one should never concede the ground to the enemy. There is not going to be a referendum in 2017.
Then, why also does he have to undermine those who say the greatest problem in fighting a referendum will be the status quo effect. Given the volume of FUD being thrown about, why cannot Farage concede that, on current form, the more air and the more publicity the EU referendum gets, the greater will be the danger that we lose when we finally do have a referendum?
Thus, it would be so nice if tables were reversed, and Farage was asked to note that there were other players in the field. It would also be nice if his supporters occasionally recognised that, when he made tactically dyslexic comments, he should take a bit of stick .
And nor is this an academic issue. Hugo van Randwyck, a Bruges Group supporter, notes in the comments that UKIP could get even more votes if it offered an incremental approach in referendums.
Noting the recent opinion poll which showed 71 per cent of those who expressed an opinion, preferring the EFTA/EU option for staying in the Single Market, he compares that with the 48 to 52 percent in favour of leaving.
Farage does't own this campaign and he is incapable of fighting it effectively, the very least he could do is not undermine the other players – especially as it looks as if he is preparing to bail out. If we're going to have to clean up his mess after him, we could use a little help.
COMMENT THREAD
Noting the recent opinion poll which showed 71 per cent of those who expressed an opinion, preferring the EFTA/EU option for staying in the Single Market, he compares that with the 48 to 52 percent in favour of leaving.
Farage does't own this campaign and he is incapable of fighting it effectively, the very least he could do is not undermine the other players – especially as it looks as if he is preparing to bail out. If we're going to have to clean up his mess after him, we could use a little help.
COMMENT THREAD
Richard North 07/08/2013
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