Britain’s prime minister is set to appoint the leader of the hapless Brexit campaign ‘Vote Leave’ in an attempt to placate Leave voters and Members of Parliament.
Matthew Elliott — who ran the disastrous ‘Vote Leave’ organisation which was wrought with failings, pessimism, and campaign lies — is set to become the Conservative Party’s new vice chairman, according to The Times.
Vote Leave was one of several campaign groups during the referendum in 2016, and was much criticised for paying inflated salaries instead of campaigning, as well as splashing an unrealistic pledge of money for Britain’s National Health Service across its buses.
The group was run by former Tax Payers’ Alliance chief Matthew Elliott, who was so convinced the Leave campaign would lose, they refused to even hold an election night party, unlike the Leave.EU group.
Vote Leave got the nod of approval by the British establishment, gaining the ‘official’ campaign designation. But the grassroots work during the referendum was mostly done by UKIP activists and Brexiteers at local levels, steered by other groups such as Leave.EU, Labour Leave, and Grassroots Out.
That Mrs. May is set to bring in Elliott has already caused consternation amongst Leavers, with one leading campaigner telling Breitbart London: “Elliott is deeply unpopular, maybe more so with Brexiteers than Theresa May. This is going to cause her more problems, not fewer”.
According to The Times, a Conservative Party figure stated: “If May thinks that appointing Elliott is going to make all the Brexit mob happy she’s in for a shock”.
Elliott’s campaign went through a slew of turbulent incidents, including Elliott himself being open to “renegotiation” with the European Union. Other incidents included:
- A botched launch;
- The loss of major supporters due to duplicity;
- Attacks on its own supporters;
- Strange accounting procedures;
- An internal coup;
- Entertaining the idea of a second referendum;
- Setting up ‘front groups‘;
- Repeated attempts to marginalise Nigel Farage and UKIP;
- The loss of leading campaigners;
- Clinton-like disparagement of UKIP supporters;
- The admission of (failed) underhand tactics;
Since the campaign, Elliott has tried his hand at convincing American audiences that it was he, not Nigel Farage, that led Britain to voting Leave. He took a Senior Fellow position at the wealthy Legatum Institute, an establishment, centre-right think tank.
Elliott did not comment to the Times, though the Conservative Party confirmed talks were ongoing.