The BBC presented Sir John Major’s pro-EU rant yesterday as a seismic event.
Sir John – who as a young man ran away from the circus to become an accountant – said the Brexit campaign was “dishonest”, “squalid” and “deceitful”.
The BBC seemed to suggest that Major’s intervention might be a game changer in the EU referendum campaign.
WATCH & RT: the "dishonest" Leave campaign are playing "Russian Roulette" with people's futures.https://t.co/JYGVVVwjCR
— Open Britain (@Open_Britain) June 5, 2016
I disagree.
If these unpleasant words ring a bell in the context of Major, here’s why:
As Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1990 he helped lead Britain into the ERM, which ultimately triggered the Black Wednesday crisis of 1992.
That cost Britain £3.3 billion.
In 1993 he launched the Back to Basics campaign having, it subsequently emerged, cheated on his wife in the 1980s with fellow Tory MP Edwina Currie.
Imagine the humiliation of that bombshell for poor old Norma Major, Sir John’s long-suffering wife.
And in 1997 he led the Tories to their worst electoral defeat since 1906, reducing his party to a rump which was out of power for more than a decade.
Now, Honest John expects people to listen to him when he says Britain should remain the EU.
Back to the circus for you, Sir John.
