QUESTION REFERENDUMS

“And my favorite survey one of my favorite surveys ever done, I think was done by the Daily Mirror. And it said to people, would you like to see these European customs in our country? Would you like to see more pavement cafes? No. Won by 23%. Would you like to see more shops open on Sundays? No. Won by 35%. Would you ever like to have coffee and a roll for breakfast? No. Won by 45.”

“I love this. So she doesn't wear it at the press conference, but she wears it later at a photo call by Churchill Statue. And she wears this tremendous jumper. So there's nine women in jumpers or t shirts with European flags on. And then there's Margaret Thatcher in a jumper with all the flags of the European countries. And it's just such a laughable image.”

“Both of them were basically born out of weakness and desperation and not enthusiasm. British governments did not try to join Europe because they loved Europe. They were trying to join Europe basically because they'd run out of other options, and this was the last card in the deck.”

“In 1975, the population of Britain fell for the first time since records began, and then it fell again in 1976 and again in 1977, basically, because so many people are getting out to New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Canada, whatever.”

“Wilson is drinking a lot. So Bernard on whose diaries from 1975 often describe him drinking four or five glasses of brandy or whiskey at lunch, especially when he's got to go, you know, to the commons and argue with Margaret Thatcher.”

“My favourite by far is this former washing machine factory in Merseyside, which had been occupied by its own workers when it went bust. Ben wanted to give them £4,000,000 of public money. And his own consultants working for the Department of Industry told him this was absolutely insane. Don't do it. And when he brought it up in cabinet, some of the other ministers literally laugh in his face when he tells them his plan. They say to him, well, what would the factory make? He says it would make car radiators and orange juice.”

“Wilson's other aids, genuinely contemplated murdering her. So Wilson's doctor, Lord Stone, went to Haines and Donoghue and said, look, I can dispose of her, and I will sign the death certificate nobody will ever know.”

“They have a war chest of 1 and a half million pounds, which is the biggest war chest that any side had ever had in a British electoral campaign. And it's 10 times as much as the no campaign had. So, I mean, they are able to absolutely obliterate the leave campaign.”

“Well, I'll quote Henry Kissinger. We have an Oval Office transcript from January 1975. Henry Kissinger is talking to Gerald Ford, president Ford. He says, Britain is a tragedy. It has sunk to begging, borrowing, stealing until North Sea oil comes in. That Britain has become such a scrounger is a disgrace.”

“The standard in 1975, to say that it's above that of 2016, is to massively undersell it. The media ecosystem changes. I think the people going into politics aren't as good, and the media demands different things, which makes it impossible for them to communicate at the same length or with the same depth or complexity. And we as consumers, our attention spans are shorter.”