Former British prime minister Gordon Brown has spoken out on his deep-seated desire to drag the United Kingdom back into the European Union, and related his fear that a free Britain could become a “Singapore of the West”.
Gordon Brown, who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom following the fall of Tony Blair from 2007 to 2010, spoke of his views on the situation post-Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union in an online event for the left-leaning, pro-Brussels Guardian newspaper.
The 70-year-old expressed his deep regret about Brexit, the paper reported, saying: “I want to rejoin the European Union. I’ll not give up.”
The former prime minister claims he is no single-minded idealogue, however, referencing the fact that during his time at the head of Britain’s government — first as Chancellor of the Exchequer and then as Prime Minister — he had the opportunity to take the country into the ‘Euro’ single currency but did not.
“I didn’t support joining the euro because I didn’t think it would work for Britain, it wasn’t because I objected to a single currency,” Brown said.
“I’m not some mad integrationist that in all situations will say, integrate, integrate, integrate,” he claimed — despite having further integrated Britain into the EU’s structures by signing its Lisbon Treaty, a repackaged version of the European Constitution which the British people had been promised a referendum on but did not receive, as Prime Minister.
The future of the United Kingdom is, nevertheless, inside globalist institutions like the European Union, World Bank, United Nations, and International Monetary Fund, in Brown’s view.
The Scotsman said he recognised rejoining the European Union would not be achieved in the short term, but insisted that Britain’s long term future is being “part of Europe”.
Brown was also critical of the official Remain campaign, saying it was too negative, fear-based, and failed to inspire. The former Prime Minister said he offered advice to the campaign on how to make it more positive but was dismissed.
“My idea for the slogan for the European campaign was ‘leading, not leaving’, because I do think people need to be proud of their country, and being proud of your country by being a leading force in Europe, I think, could have won people’s hearts and minds to staying in the European Union,” he said.
This is not the first time, even this week, that a senior Remain figure has expressed their regret about the negative timbre of the pro-EU campaign. As reported by Breitbart London, the chairman of the remain campaign, Tory peer and former Marks & Spencer boss Lord Stuart Rose said he found the ‘Project Fear’ approach of trying to frighten the British people into voting to stay in the European Union was “cack handed” and that he knew at the time that their threats were exaggerated.
When he spoke out he was ignored, Lord Rose claimed, and sidelined from the campaign entirely when he was asked a question about Brexit in a Parliamentary committee and gave an honest answer, contradicting the party line.
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