Brexit leader Nigel Farage has criticised leading Remainers for saying they would not accept and refuse to use the commemorative 50p coins marking the UK leaving the EU.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Sajid Javid revealed the commemorative coin which bears the phrase, “Peace, prosperity and friendship with all nations” and the date of exit, “31 January 2020”.
It is legal tender, and the Royal Mint will have produced 10 million of the coins by the end of this year, with three million being released on Brexit Day.
Mr Javid, who is also Master of the Mint, said: “Leaving the European Union is a turning point in our history and this coin marks the beginning of this new chapter.”
However, not everyone was pleased with the new coin.
Tony Blair’s former spin doctor Alastair Campbell said: “I for one shall be asking shopkeepers for ‘two 20p pieces and a 10’ if they offer me a 50p coin pretending that Brexit is about ‘peace, prosperity and friendship with all nations’ given it puts all three at risk.”
While Labour’s peer Lord Andrew Adonis, who said that those who backed Brexit “should never hold office again”, said: “I am never using or accepting this coin.”
Mr Farage drew an analogy between Adonis refusing to accept the coin with the peer refusing to accept the original 2016 Brexit vote, remarking: “What a sad comment. Adonis will never accept a clear democratic choice. Fortunately, the wreckers are diminishing in number each and every day.”
In a complete lapse of sense of self-awareness, those who bemoan the symbolic representation of Brexit, and in so refusing to touch the bad coin, were often those Europhiles who mocked Brexiteers’ desire to see a return to British blue passports.
In December 2017, Cambell mocked what he called the “blue passport club”, implying that the UK would be aligning itself with oppressive regimes by pointing out in an Instagram post that other countries with blue passports include communist North Korea.
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Welcome to the blue passport club.
A post shared by Alastair Campbell (@campbellclaret) on Dec 23, 2017 at 1:24am PST
The Brexit symbolism of the returning blue passport became too much for the rabidly pro-EU newspaper The New European — which Campbell helped to establish — and earlier this month launched EU-maroon “Bollocks to Brexit” passport covers offered free with subscriptions.
Speaking to Breitbart London, the chairman of the Bow Group, the UK’s oldest conservative think tank, Ben Harris-Quinney, said: “A 50p saying ‘Peace Prosperity and Friendship to all Nations’ is hardly cause for anything, but certainly not the shrieking declaration of the ushering in of fascism and the end of civilisation we have heard from the ever more ludicrous Remainers in chief.
“If Lord Adonis no longer wishes to handle British currency that is excellent news, the British public can save £300 each a day that can be better spent on the inexplicably costly ringing of Big Ben to signal our independence.”
Meanwhile, former Conservative deputy prime minister and peer Michael Heseltine complained that Brexit celebrations were rubbing Remainers’ noses in their defeat.
“Brexit is the most divisive issue of modern times. Those of us who fought to Remain did so sincerely in the interests of our country and subsequent generations who we believe should be influential at the heart of Europe,” Lord Heseltine told The Observer.
Heseltine, who was thrown out of the Conservative Party in May 2019 for backing an anti-Brexit rival party, added: “I think it is unwise of the government to rub our noses in it by celebrating our defeat at this hour, whilst talking about unifying the country.”
The Bow Group’s Mr Harris-Quinney remarked on Heseltine’s comments, telling Breitbart London: “Heseltine’s career has ended not only in defeat, but also in his pathetic and petulant reaction to it. All he has ever done is connive to betray his country and tear down his betters, now he has his ultimate comeuppance.”
The conservative think tank is one of a number of Brexit-supporting organisations planning celebrations on Friday, holding a Maastricht Rebels Independence Day dinner with the original Maastricht rebels from pro-EU John Major’s government, with former Cabinet minister Sir John Redwood as the guest of honour.
While Mr Farage, dubbed by The Spectator as the “disruptor of the decade”, has organised the Brexit Celebration street party with Leave Means Leave in Parliament Square to mark down the time to Brexit Hour — 11pm, January 21st, 2020 — the time when, after 47 years, the United Kingdom regains her independence.