No EU referendum

[slon]

Aug 11, 2017 14:51:19 GMT The Bishop said:

You have your dates wrong - the referendum announcement was at the start of 20*13*. Which in itself puts a rather different spin on things.

(the Tory bump at the turn of 2011-12 was due to Cameron's "veto" boost)

Aaauuggghhh .... you are right, for some reason it stuck in my mind that the 'pledge' was 2012.


Possibly the problems of Greece, the Cameron veto with attendant doom laden rhetoric about the failures of the EU started the juggernaut and led to the referendum becoming inevitable
Still the basic premise remains;  Cameron moved the agenda from UK economic progress (of which there was little) to bash the foreigners (demagogues delight) so provided the platform for his own destruction.

[Chris]

Cameron was renowned for following public opinion more than leading it. He was a fantastic tactician but a useless strategist. Cameron wasn't responsible for the surge of support for a referendum or for leaving. In all likelihood it was there all along.

24 October 2011
Conservative rebels pushing for an in-or-out referendum on Europe are riding the tide of public opinion, according to a Guardian/ICM poll.

Some 70% of voters want a vote on Britain's EU membership, and by a substantial nine-point margin respondents say they would vote for UK withdrawal.
www.theguardian.com/world/2011/oct/24/eu-referendum-poll-uk-withdrawal