The “passionate European” who created the hit television show ‘House of Cards’ has declared his support for Britain leaving the European Union (EU).
Lord Michael Dobbs — who as well as being a best-selling author and creator of the internationally successful ‘House of Cards’ television series is a Conservative Party peer — touted his Eurosceptic credentials in a recent interview.
As a Brexit supporter, Lord Dobbs is not an archetypal ‘Little Englander’ of the sort pro-EU cheerleaders like to portray. In fact he told Politico he is a “passionate European,” adding: “I love Europe, I really do. I couldn’t think of anywhere better to be born, to raise children, the culture, the history, everything.”
In fact he wants the continent of Europe “to flourish” and blames the EU for wrecking that “because the institution is wrong and it’s fatally flawed.” He added: “The European Union is like the Titanic heading for the iceberg and cannot change and it will not change so in those circumstances it’s time to get off.”
The moment Lord Dobbs decided Brexit was his chosen course was when he heard the “devastating words” of German Minister of Finance Wolfgang Schäuble, uttered in response to elections in Greece. Some claimed the election of Alexis Tsipras as Prime Minister gave the Greek government a democratic mandate for fundamental reform, but not Mr. Schäuble who said:
“Elections change nothing. There are rules.”
The interviewer asked Lord Dobbs what would become of British Members of the European Parliament if the UK withdrew from the EU. It does not appear to be something that concerns him much:
“Ha! Proper jobs. In all honesty, I don’t care. They’ve had a pretty good run for their money.”
Lord Dobbs was also asked what model of relationship he would want to see Britain have with the EU after Brexit, although the interviewer only offered Norway or Switzerland as exemplars. He rejected that as a basis for the question:
“No. No. No. Britain. Switzerland, Norway, it’s totally unlike Britain. We have the fifth largest economy in the world. We have the fourth largest armed forces… We’re not Switzerland. We’re not Norway. We will do our own deal.”
He conceded that deals need partners to work together, but dismissed as “silly” the idea that companies and nations within the EU would suddenly decided they would no longer trade with the UK. He explained:
“We have a massive trade deficit with the rest of the EU. They sell to us far more than we sell to them. And I don’t see them turning around and grumbling, ‘No I’m not going to continue selling to the U.K. I’m going throw all of our people out of jobs because we don’t like you anymore.'”
Asked whether his comments meant he is in fact a populist, Lord Dobbs replied:
“I’m for democracy. I’m for listening to people and what it is they want…
“…Now I think we have to listen to those people. But the one government in Europe that’s still there, that we can’t get rid of, is the government in Brussels.”