My interview with the Chairman of the Campaign for an Independent Britain

Last week, I had a discussion with the Chairman of the Campaign for an Independent Britain. We discussed a variety of topics including Brexit, taxes and red tape. Please find part 1 of my interview below:

29 Comments

  1. No Longer Anonymous
    August 9, 2022

    A question.

    A migrant arrives by rubber dinghy aged 60. A few years later he is on benefits.

    Does he go down in government stats as a pensioner or is he registered as part of the unemployed ?

    It seems we hide the unemployed at the beginning of adulthood (NEETs and silly university degrees) and also at ‘retirement’ too.

    Only by being truthful may we get an estimation of the true state of the nation and how to deal with it.

    1. Mickey Taking
      August 9, 2022

      When are these thousands of ‘twenty-somethings’ economic migrants going to be being ejected or put to work standing on their own 2 feet? Perhaps if they agree to work in the fruit and veg picking roles for a year, they might curry favour?

      1. a-tracy
        August 10, 2022

        No one that is capable of working should get all their living costs supported by free money.

      2. Gary Megson
        August 10, 2022

        Mickey, they WANT to work, they are desperate to work, they have come here to work to build a life they couldn’t have in their wartorn homeland. But this government refuses to let them work. Why? Probably because if people saw how useful these folk could be, they’d realise how immigration is positive for the UK. And the Conservative Party’s poisonous baiting of vulnerable asylum seekers would no longer win votes

        1. Peter2
          August 10, 2022

          Any limit to numbers ou would allow Gary?
          1 million a year?
          5 million a year
          10 million a year?

    2. Peter
      August 9, 2022

      Brexit ā€˜we have scarcely startedā€™.

      Indeed. Johnson rushed through a Bill over the Christmas period with little time for debate. It was scarcely any better than Mayā€™s. He still has the cheek to brazenly claim to have ā€˜got Brexit doneā€™ while ignoring all the issues that still remain or kicking them into the long grass.

      However, governments are supposed to govern. Blaming the Treasury for issues is not acceptable. The Treasury either act as instructed or the politicians give them a kick up the backside.

      ā€˜The buck stops hereā€™. Any failure is down to politicians.

    3. Nottingham Lad Himself
      August 10, 2022

      “Campaign For An Independent Britain”?

      You really can imagine the types, can’t you?

      Might as well be the Campaign For The Real Last Night Of The Proms.

      1. Peter2
        August 10, 2022

        Yes I can imagine, patriots and proud UK citizens NHL
        Stop your sneering.

  2. Lifelogic
    August 9, 2022

    We do indeed need far lower taxes and far simpler taxes too. A CT rate at Irish levels would be very sensible.

    Lord Frost says forget medieval tech. like wind farms. Well I would not go that far but just kill the subsidies and all the market rigging of the energy market, get fracking, drilling and mining and stop blowing up coal power stations. There is no climate emergency and ever if their were the uk can do nothing other than adapt as best we can.

    1. Lifelogic
      August 9, 2022

      And even if there were rather

  3. formula57
    August 9, 2022

    The new Government would do well to listen, especially on your budget proposals to undo the damage of R. Sunak’s bad policies and on your proposals to at last use the freedoms endowed by Brexit.

    (The John Lewis plc chief says inflation is boosted through over fifties retiring so should not Boris return to work at once? He could even act on some of your proposals.)

    1. Bill B.
      August 9, 2022

      Er, would you give Boris a job working for you, F57?

      1. formula57
        August 9, 2022

        @ Bill B – not any more, put he is being paid until 6th. and with proper supervision…..

      2. Mickey Taking
        August 9, 2022

        can’t think of anything other than him circulating at a piss-up to make people laugh (at him).

      3. Sir Joe Soap
        August 9, 2022

        Well again people are making rational decisions. Why slog your guts out in this hot weather for the man only to add a bit to savings which are likely to be taxed/whipped away from you by either Labour or Conservative governments? Plenty in their 50s can rely on spouse/partner’s earnings/savings/benefits to eke them through. And if it all goes tots up, there’s always more benefits.

  4. X-Tory
    August 9, 2022

    What a great interview! You are so right that the government’s implementation of Brexit has been ‘very disappointing’. Your point about Sunak having previously written in favour of freeports and yet not rapidly rolling these out in a ‘full-blooded way’ is an example of how we have been betrayed. I wish however you had explained WHY he was so slow and timid in implementing his own policy. I genuinely don’t understand it. And the same applies to gene-editing, which Boris himself had spoken in favour of, and yet this too is taking forever to be implemented, and again only in a very half-hearted way. The government’s incompetence and inability to implement its policies is what is so very, very infuriating, and why heads had to roll – especially those of Boris and Sunak. As the expression goes: either p!ss or get off the pot!

  5. X-Tory
    August 9, 2022

    Sir John, I see you have written an article for ConservativeHome. As I am barred there for being too conservative (ironic, but true!) let me comment here on you statement: “Whilst Boris Johnson was personally in favour of a more distinctive, growth-oriented approach, he was held back by Treasury dogma and a chancellor who favoured high taxes.” This goes to the heart of all that was wrong with Boris Johnson. He was the FIRST Lord of the Treasury, and Sunak the SECOND. So why didn’t Boris just ORDER Sunak and the Treasury to implement growth-oriented policies?

    The answer (as far as I can see – if you, having been ‘closer to the action’, think differently please say so) is that Boris is WEAK, COWARDLY and simply DOESN’T CARE. He is not a conviction politician (as he himself has stated), and cares more about the trappings of office than in wielding power to effect change. In other words, he is an utterly useless waste of space. Good riddance to a man who wasted one of the best opportunities we have had in a generation to make Britain a better, richer and stronger country.

    1. Sir Joe Soap
      August 9, 2022

      Tend to agree. Rather like my earlier reply, plenty of people in their 50s can’t be bothered to slog it post-Covid. Johnson is no exception. Wife, kids and enough contacts and lolly to see him through… he probably thinks like many that fighting a losing battle with Civil Service and colleagues who want to cave in themselves to the social democratic consensus isn’t worth the pain. The difference was he put himself forward to do just that and so can be castigated for letting us all down.

  6. glen cullen
    August 9, 2022

    Paying millions to the French didnā€™t work
    Relying on UK Border Force didnā€™t work
    The Army camps didnā€™t work (UK courts didn’t like them)
    The UK courts and ECHRs doesnā€™t work
    Flights to Rwanda didnā€™t work
    Relying on the Royal Navy didnā€™t work
    Identifying bogus Albanians didnā€™t work
    ā€¦and now the Royal Air Force camps didnā€™t work (the MOD have had a change of mind)
    How about just sending the boats mid-channel back to France

    1. Mickey Taking
      August 9, 2022

      re – the last line.
      Why didn’t Pretty useless try that?

  7. straightface
    August 9, 2022

    You look better unsmiling.

  8. glen cullen
    August 9, 2022

    The media keep talking up about the candidates having to increase borrowing ā€“ Iā€™d always thought that one cuts spending first before having to borrow funds
    So why are both candidates advocating continuing governments huge spending – Ā£150bn on HS2, Ā£47bn on EU, Ā£2bn on UN, Ā£12bn on Foreign Aid, and god knows on illegal immigration, net-zero subsidies, track nā€™ trace, revamp of parliament etc
    Why did we remove Boris if weā€™re keeping all his spending plans

  9. George Brooks.
    August 9, 2022

    You have confirmed what I have thought for a long time. The ‘road-block’ to Brexit benefits is and has been Sunak and a number of other cabinet members. However he looks to have been the leader of the pack and I will be generous in suggesting this was because he was far too young and inexperienced to be chancellor and was sucked into and under the Treasury spell. This counts him out completely for the leadership role

    1. Peter2
      August 9, 2022

      I think you are completely right George

  10. DOM
    August 9, 2022

    Pleasing interview and thanks for posting but the concerns confronting this nation’s civil population extend way beyond issues primarily relating to fiscal and economic matters.

    We are facing a crisis of democratic governance and a sustained assault on our most important civil freedoms. What I see currently in the USA is what I see coming down the line for the UK.

    The progressive State must step back from its assault on who we are and what we are

    1. glen cullen
      August 9, 2022

      Correct ā€“ governments should stop trying to mould us into their dream of utopia; people donā€™t like governments reshaping culture and experimenting with social engineeringā€¦the fight to whom is supreme continues ā€“ people vs. government

  11. margaret
    August 9, 2022

    Are Guernsey and Jersey affected by post Brexit relations and have they made new financial deals ?. Is the tax haven of Jersey an example of JR’s views on corporate tax. Isn’t the flat rate income tax of 20% less messy to manage? As third countries and British dependency how does brexit legally impact on the EU as their ties are still stronger than the rest of the UK.

  12. Gary Megson
    August 10, 2022

    Excellent interview! It fuly summarises Brexit – a long list of whines, complaints, moans, demands for the impossible. You won, but my god you are miserable

    1. Peter2
      August 10, 2022

      I dont think we are miserable Gary.
      Whines, ucomplaints, 66moans and impossible demands all come from you remainer7rejoiners.

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