Brexit Is the Opposite of Donald Trump – Whatever His Convention Spin

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By Louise Mensch | 3:22 pm, July 14, 2016
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If Governor Mike Pence of Indiana, Ted Cruz primary-backer, is announced as the VP pick for Donald Trump tomorrow, there may be one unifying theme at the Republican convention – Brexit.

Pence’s state of Indiana stunned and wooed Leave voters in the UK by running a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal saying that Indiana backed Britain – Brexit or not – and was keen to do business with the UK. To say this was warmly received in the UK would be an understatement:

Governor Pence himself clearly had something to do with the advertisement, which, in using “back of the queue” [line], took a swipe at President Obama’s denigration of the UK. It was tweeted out by the Indiana Development Company on July 6th and RTed by the Governor’s official account:

Meanwhile, a rather lazy US Washington Press corps has described ousted UKIP former leader and Breitbart darling Nigel Farage, due to attend the GOP convention, as ‘the leader of Brexit’.

In fact, as the British press could tell the American press, Trump-like troll Farage lost a bitterly fought designation battle with Vote Leave. The UK’s Electoral Commission ruled against his ‘Grassroots Out’ Rival and Farage was shut out of leadership of the Brexit campaign. His toxic ‘Breaking Point’ poster was a disaster that nearly lost Leavers the referendum.

As election night happened, Farage was so far removed from the action of the actual campaign that he conceded defeat (without knowing the numbers). The leader of Brexit, Dan Hannan MEP, had texted me before I went to sleep at midnight that the counts were looking excellent for Vote Leave and the polls might be wrong.

Excluded troll Farage simply believed the polls.

After Brexit happened, Farage took credit for the campaign from which he’d been entirely shut out, including the TV debates:

Farage monetary backer Arron Banks was furious Farage was shut out of the big BBC debate, but as a non-leader of Brexit, of course he was not invited. This is why US media should not call Farage a Brexit leader:

Nigel Farage was also utterly furious at being shut out of the post-Brexit planning for leaving the European Union, including by UKIP’s only MP Douglas Carswell, who told him he’d have NO role at all.

Nigel was “excluded from the Brexit committee” as he had been from the Brexit campaign – a shrill figure of fun – and he cried about it.

Nigel Farage has reacted with fury after Vote Leave said it would exclude him from a cross-party committee which will negotiate Britain’s exit from the European Union.

The UK Independence Party leader said that he would use his position as head of the Ukip group in the European Parliament – the biggest group  of British MEPs – to ensure he had a say over the terms of British breakaway from the EU.

Senior Vote Leave sources on Friday made clear that Mr Farage would not be invited to join the committee negotiating the Brexit.

Farage also threatened to sack Douglas Carswell MP. Instead, when his party committee met, Farage found that he had to resign instead.

Still, Farage is now heading to the RNC where most American media do not know of his failure and ousting during and after the Brexit campaign. Donald Trump, toxic in the UK, also ‘backed Brexit’, which was regarded as very damaging to the cause by Leave campaigners, and used as a talking point by Remain:

Russia’s Vladimir Putin is a big supporter of both Trump and Farage. Another Farage-Trump booster is Dan Bannon, who bankrolls Breitbart. For years, he and Breitbart’s Raheem Kassam have tried to ‘make Nigel happen’ in America. In 2015, Breitbart paid for Farage to speak at CPAC. It was a brutal embarrassment as Farage spoke to an empty room:

By the time Farage gets his stage, the room is mostly empty, with 400 or so diehards left to listen….The Daily Telegraph.. runs with “Nigel Farage travels to Washington to address a near-empty room.”

But now, with Trump desperate for backers and talking points at a disastrous-looking Convention, Farage is being boosted by Russian run pro-Trump twitter bots as a “Brexit leader” (LOL).

Donald Trump looks to try to take credit for Brexit at the RNC, whereas the official Vote Leave campaign and its cross-party leaders explicitly rejected Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric, appealing to the UK to reject EU laws that prioritized EU immigrants over global immigrants:

The Vote Leave campaign’s best logo was not anti-global, it was PRO global, the exact opposite of Donald Trump’s tariffs and protectionism:

So, fellow American journalists, please don’t repeat Breitbart’s lazy spin on Farage and Trump. They may ‘Back Brexit’ but British Brexiteers do not back either one of them. Governor Pence, however, does matter as a Brexit backer – he runs an actual state, which is more power than either Donald Trump or Nigel Farage will ever have. Brexit is, for the UK, about fair immigration – we would welcome Mexican applicants, for one – and free trade with the entire world. In fact, it’s the anti-Trump movement come to life.

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