Ian McKenzie, communications director of The People's Pledge
campaign for a referendum on Britain's membership of the European
Union, has announced that the campaign has appointed a new director, and
it is he.
This is the man, a europhile to his core, who believes there should be
an in-out referendum in the next parliament. "If it were held", he tells
the pompous John Rentoul, "the European cause would win, and the sceptics would lose all purchase on British politics for a generation".
So, let's get this straight. The man fronting a campaign for an EU
referendum believes that the British public would vote for continued
membership, thus wiping out euroscepticism for a generation â which is
why he wants a referendum. This is a campaign that eurosceptics should
support?
Then there is John Cruddas MP, telling us that this is about
"democracy". The political classes, he says, "should invite the people
into the discussion that affects their everyday lives". How so very kind
â by the grace of John Cruddas and his mates, we the people actually
get an invite to the discussion.
But the point of course, it that any "discussion" is held on terms
dictated by the political classes, with any vote rigged and then
permitted only when the outcome is assured. Is this really democracy?