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| * Paul Waugh |
As political ‘defections’ go, Sarah Wollaston’s is pretty perfect for the Remain camp. She’s a GP, she’s Tory, she’s a woman, she's ever-so-reasonable. And her decision to switch from being an Outer to an Inner centres on the controversial £350m-for-the-NHS figure plastered all over Vote Leave leaflets. “I could not have set foot on a battle bus that has at the heart of its campaign a figure that I know to be untrue,” she says.
What turned Wollaston into an ex-Brexiteer was the arrival of her postal vote, a crystallising moment when she realised the NHS would actually suffer from the UK quitting the EU, she says. Of course all defections carry the downside of the ‘turncoat/ditherer’ accusation, but she has tweeted ‘I understand that politicians are not allowed to change their minds but real people do’. Still, the BeLeavers think she’ll only be remembered as a the ‘Hokey-Cokey MP’. Don't forget many Tory MPs are undeclared - and another Tory GP Dr Philip Lee (who made such an impressive Queen's Speech speech) could declare his hand today.
I was tempted to headline this section Nott In My Name, because better news for VoteLeave comes in the shape of Mrs T’s former Defence Secretary and famous TV-interview-walker-outer, John Nott. The Telegraph reports how he has suspended his Tory membership in protest at Cameron’s ‘tirade of fear’ on the EU referendum. Nott told HuffPost in 2014 that he’d voted UKIP in the Euro elections, so we kinda know where he’s coming from.
Lots of papers focus on JCB boss Lord Bamford’s decision to write to all his 6,000 UK staff to tell them there’s ‘little to fear’ from Brexit. The Times’ Francis Elliott recalls how Bamford was blocked from getting a peerage in 2010, after the Inland Revenue placed a ‘black mark’ (Bamford’s own words) against him. Happily for him, all such worries were miraculously cleared up in 2013 when the PM recommended him for the honour. Is the PM regretting that today?
George Osborne was grilled but not really kebabbed by Andrew Neil on the BBC last night. But he did get the Chancellor to admit his pension lock would protect incomes from any Brexit impact – and forced him into a strange prediction on Turkey. "Is it going to be a member of the European Union? No, it's not." John Redwood rightly told the Today prog Turkish membership was still UK policy. Asked if Osborne had lied, Redwood said “He’s clearly wrong, yes”.
There’s yet another EU TV special tonight. We hacks may be getting ‘debate fatigue’, but the punters may only just be waking up to all this. And in fact the ITV show - at 8pm - really will be a proper debate, with Boris and Nicola Sturgeon providing the box office draw.
What turned Wollaston into an ex-Brexiteer was the arrival of her postal vote, a crystallising moment when she realised the NHS would actually suffer from the UK quitting the EU, she says. Of course all defections carry the downside of the ‘turncoat/ditherer’ accusation, but she has tweeted ‘I understand that politicians are not allowed to change their minds but real people do’. Still, the BeLeavers think she’ll only be remembered as a the ‘Hokey-Cokey MP’. Don't forget many Tory MPs are undeclared - and another Tory GP Dr Philip Lee (who made such an impressive Queen's Speech speech) could declare his hand today.
I was tempted to headline this section Nott In My Name, because better news for VoteLeave comes in the shape of Mrs T’s former Defence Secretary and famous TV-interview-walker-outer, John Nott. The Telegraph reports how he has suspended his Tory membership in protest at Cameron’s ‘tirade of fear’ on the EU referendum. Nott told HuffPost in 2014 that he’d voted UKIP in the Euro elections, so we kinda know where he’s coming from.
Lots of papers focus on JCB boss Lord Bamford’s decision to write to all his 6,000 UK staff to tell them there’s ‘little to fear’ from Brexit. The Times’ Francis Elliott recalls how Bamford was blocked from getting a peerage in 2010, after the Inland Revenue placed a ‘black mark’ (Bamford’s own words) against him. Happily for him, all such worries were miraculously cleared up in 2013 when the PM recommended him for the honour. Is the PM regretting that today?
George Osborne was grilled but not really kebabbed by Andrew Neil on the BBC last night. But he did get the Chancellor to admit his pension lock would protect incomes from any Brexit impact – and forced him into a strange prediction on Turkey. "Is it going to be a member of the European Union? No, it's not." John Redwood rightly told the Today prog Turkish membership was still UK policy. Asked if Osborne had lied, Redwood said “He’s clearly wrong, yes”.
There’s yet another EU TV special tonight. We hacks may be getting ‘debate fatigue’, but the punters may only just be waking up to all this. And in fact the ITV show - at 8pm - really will be a proper debate, with Boris and Nicola Sturgeon providing the box office draw.
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* Paul Waugh Is The Executive Editor, HuffPost, UK
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