Veteran rocker Roger Daltrey has labeled membership of the European Union (EU) a “disaster”, saying he supports Brexit from the “undemocratic, highly dysfunctional” politico-trading bloc.
Echoing Boris Johnson’s comments about the “systematic campaign of subterfuge” pro-EU campaigners have employed, 72-year-old Roger Daltrey criticised Brussels bureaucrats for the way they expanded its remit, saying “they kind of sneakily crept in on us.”
In an interview with The Sun newspaper, The Who frontman claimed the European project was “set up by a bunch of crooks” adding:
“But that’s how they did this, we all thought we were voting for a common trade area. We voted for an apple and they gave us a bunch of bloody grapes!”
Mr. Daltrey said the EU is a “wonderful idea” but the only way to get a Europe people want is to “get rid of this bunch of fucking useless wankers that are running it.”
In other comments Mr. Daltrey revealed both a belief in British sovereignty (“What it’s done to our Parliament is put them down to level of Parish Council.”) and in small government, lashing out at unnecessary interference in British lives generated “because there are so many politicians we get so much useless fucking law.”
Mr. Daltrey went on to discuss immigration, “a big issue for our country because we are an island”, on which he had asked people to consider the other side of the argument:
“But no one talks about the other side of that immigration issue – which is the fact that all those southern European countries have been robbed of their youth, the countries have been raped.
“Their youth have had to leave to get work, so how are they going to rebuild their futures?”
Identifying a form of revolutionary spirit on the streets, the singer said that as increasing numbers of people “with real big vested interests in Europe” come out in favour of remaining, the average man on the street becomes “even more angry”. He noted:
“You’re hardly going to get the civil servants to talk against it are you? It’s going to put them out of work!”
Mr. Daltrey did concede that the path to independence from the EU would not be plain sailing, referring to the trade deals that some say would need to be done, he said:
“It probably will put the cat among the pigeons for a while but it’s not the end of our country and it’s not the end of Europe. To say that they’ll stop trading with us is absolute bullshit.”
Another legendary rock frontman, Sir Mick Jagger, made a similar observation back in April. When speaking of the effects of Brexit to a Sky News interviewer he said:
“I think to the country in the short term, it will be detrimental if we get out. In the longer term, in say a 20 year term, it might turn out to be beneficial.”