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<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n For Brexiteers, a new book about the second referendum campaign is schadenfreude in print <\/li>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n It was ultimately sectarianism that doomed the Remainiacs <\/li>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Those gunning for a second Brexit referendum were chasing unattainable parliamentary arithmetic <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n In a spirit of amused devilment, I took part in the first great March by the \u2018remaniacs\u2019, as it entered Trafalgar Square and went down Whitehall. Led by Eddie Izzard, Peter Tatchell and Madeleina Kay (the so-called \u2018Super EU\u2019 girl) and her dog on Sept 16, 2016.<\/p>\n At the time I was amazed that they had managed to work up the enthusiasm: they were a few months too late to impact the result of the Referendum, and I didn\u2019t understand why they were not carrying the Union Flag, but that of the European Union, the optics just seemed wrong. Now I learn from the former Labour Staffer, Morgan Jones, in his new book<\/a><\/strong> \u2018No Second Chances: The Inside Story of the Campaign for a Second EU Referendum\u2019 that it was because the remainiacs actively despised the Union Jack.<\/p>\n But now I learn that this great outpouring of Brexit Derangement Syndrome<\/a><\/strong> was a multi-organisational whirlwind of misplaced moral certainty and political delusion. People\u2019s Vote, Another Europe is Possible, Open Britain, SODEM, InFacts, Rejoin Party, Our Future Our Choice, Change UK, Best for Britain, For our Future\u2019s Sake, Another Europe is Possible and so on ad infinitum.<\/p>\n The Lyrics of Dominic Frisby\u2019s \u201917 million Fuck Offs\u2019 encapsulates that attitude of those targeted by the great, good and deluded. \u2018They wheeled in the experts to tell us what\u2019s right \/ They gave us the benefit of their foresight \/ To leave is calamitous, that\u2019s what they said \/ But 17 million said \u2018fuck off\u2019 instead.\u2019 It\u2019s a jaunty folk ditty that captures the raw sentiment of Leave voters towards the endless parade of Remainer doomsayers, and reading \u2018No Second Chances\u2019, one can\u2019t help but hear its chorus echoing through every page of infighting, ego and ultimate futility.<\/p>\n Jones\u2019s book is billed as \u2018The Inside Story of the Campaign for a Second EU Referendum\u2019, and it delivers on that promise with the kind of granular detail that only comes from someone who conducted nearly 70 interviews with the key players. It\u2019s a chronicle of how a ragtag alliance of devastated Remainers, from grassroots Bath based, beret-makers to Labour insiders and City financiers, tried to claw back the 2016 result through marches, stunts and parliamentary maneuvering. But from a Brexiteer\u2019s perch, it\u2019s less a tragedy than a comedy of errors, a testament to how self-righteous certainty can blind even the cleverest operators to political reality.<\/p>\n The story kicks off with the cultural artefacts of Remainism, like Maggie Turner\u2019s blue beret with yellow stars that became a symbol of devotion and, frankly, a bit of a joke (I have one for the laughs). Jones recounts how Turner, a retiree, hand-crafted these hats in her kitchen before scaling up to Chinese manufacturing, selling thousands and donating proceeds to anti-Brexit groups. It\u2019s a charming anecdote, but it underscores the movement\u2019s bubble: these were middle-class, often elderly activists who saw Brexit as a personal affront to their cosmopolitan identities, not a democratic mandate. As Jones notes, many viewed Leave voters as \u2018lied to, stupid, reactionary\u2019, echoing political scientist Rob Ford\u2019s assessment in the book. This condescension permeated everything, from the \u2018Wooferendum\u2019 pet protests to signs lamenting dogs unable to ski post-Brexit. Who can forget the \u2018Who will serve me my latte, if EU citizens have to leave\u2019 tweets from the afflicted?<\/p>\n The heart of the book lies in the organisational chaos. Jones divides it into sections on culture, groups, Labour\u2019s internal wrangling, the People\u2019s Vote campaign and the doomed centrist parties. The People\u2019s Vote, headquartered in Millbank Tower, emerges as a microcosm of the mess. Led by James McGrory and Tom Baldwin, both praised by junior staff as inspirational but viewed by outsiders as domineering, it coordinated massive marches that drew up to a million people. Yet, as Jones reveals, these events highlighted fatal flaws. Campaigners tried handing out Union Jacks to soften the Europhile image, but protesters refused, calling it a \u2018National Front symbol\u2019. Instead, they waved EU flags, alienating the very moderates needed to sway MPs. \u2018The bigger the marches, the more important our fundraising, because we weren\u2019t getting big individual donations, the more important our activists became,\u2019 Baldwin reflects in the book. \u2018It meant our image was becoming more and more Remainy.\u2019<\/p>\n Infighting was relentless. Youth groups like Our Future Our Choice and For our Future\u2019s Sake clashed over tactics, with Femi Oluwole nearly running for Parliament in Peterborough, only to back down amid fears it would alienate Labour. Jones details how Roland Rudd, Open Britain\u2019s chair and a City grandee, clashed with Baldwin and McGrory over strategy: Rudd wanted a pro-EU grassroots push, while they focused on peeling off Tory MPs. This culminated in the \u2018implosion\u2019 of Chapter 15, where Rudd sacked the duo in October 2019, prompting a staff walkout. Patrick Heneghan, installed as European Movement CEO to bridge gaps, ended up as interim Open Britain boss amid the fallout. It\u2019s a tale of egos exploding like overripe fruit, with staff singing \u2018Happy Birthday\u2019 as an office anthem while the ship sank.<\/p>\n Jones is fair-minded, letting interviewees damn themselves with their own words. Labour\u2019s dithering under Jeremy Corbyn gets a thorough skewering: despite grassroots pressure at the 2018 conference, the party hedged, fearing Leave voters in Red Wall seats. The centrist splinter parties \u2013 Change UK, Renew, Advance Together \u2013 are portrayed as hubristic fiascos. Annabel Mullin, who led Renew and Advance, admits they ran candidates just to spend more money, racking up fines and paltry votes. Jolyon Maugham\u2019s \u2018Spring, the Party\u2019 never left the drawing board, a \u2018festival\u2019 that fizzled into nothing. Jones compares these to UKIP\u2019s strategy of patience \u2013 these outfits lacked grit, and were drunk on their Twitter fame.<\/p>\n The book\u2019s strength is its refusal to sugarcoat failure. Jones concludes that sectarianism doomed the movement: inward-looking activists alienated swing voters, while elites chased unattainable parliamentary arithmetic. Public opinion had shifted against Brexit by 2019, but the campaign couldn\u2019t capitalise upon that, imploding before Johnson\u2019s election victory (sort of) sealed the deal. It\u2019s a cautionary tale for today\u2019s politics, think Reform UK\u2019s rise, about how passion without pragmatism leads to irrelevance.<\/p>\n For Brexiteers, \u2018No Second Chances\u2019 is schadenfreude in print, confirming our suspicions that Remain was a metropolitan echo chamber. Jones, a left-leaning journalist, writes with wry detachment, making it accessible even to those who cheered the original result. At 320 pages, it\u2019s long, and at times a bit clunky and the acronym soup SODEM, OFOV, FBPE (how many of us have groaned when seeing that little hashtag appear in somebody\u2019s bio?) can overwhelm. Still, it\u2019s essential reading for understanding how 17 million \u2018fuck offs\u2019 proved unbreakable. One key figure is of course Steve Bray<\/a><\/strong>, the \u2018shouty man in a hat\u2019. There is something quixotic but almost charmingly crackers about his little traffic island crusade, no matter how annoying he gets. But his monomania acts as a metaphor for the whole rejoiner movement. Lots of coverage, very little cut through.<\/p>\n In the end, the Remainers got no second chance, and on this evidence, they didn\u2019t deserve one.<\/p>\n CapX depends on the generosity of its readers. If you value what we do, please consider making a donation.<\/p>\n Columns are the author’s own opinion and do not necessarily reflect the views of CapX.<\/p>\n \t\t