‘Angry’ caller demands Brexit public inquiry - another explains why rejoining EU is ‘illusionary’
4 November 2022, 12:42
James O'Brien's Brexit callers
One James O’Brien caller said he would like a judge-led public inquiry into “the lies, the cons, the deceit, the dishonesty” pushed by Brexiteers, while the caller in Luxembourg after him explained why “you guys are out”.
James O’Brien heard from two passionate callers during his show today, one left angry by the “lies” promulgated by Brexiteers in the lead up to the historic 2016 referendum, and another breaking down the reasons it is unlikely for the UK to rejoin the EU.
Loz in Plymouth began: “I would like to see a judge-led public inquiry into Brexit - the lies, the cons, the deceit, the dishonesty!”
James said: “Because every single promise that was made has been broken, and not just broken in a normal sense of a promise being broken, but it’s been broken in precisely the way people like Mark Carney would be.”
Loz replied: “Absolutely, and you know what gets me James? We’ve been cowed into silence by major news organisations who know the people that have lied.”
“They are these people!”, James cut in.
“Absolutely”, replied his caller, “but what I’m saying is James, they know people like Farage and his clique and Mr Johnson etc.”
Listen to James O'Brien's top 10 Brexit calls
He continued: “It's like oh the bus has moved on now, let's talk about something else apart from the one thing that has absolutely taken billions out of our economy. That is why I believe there should be an absolute public inquiry into this and the people that have lied to us should be held responsible and accountable.
“They cannot be allowed to get away with it James, I’m so angry about it!”, Loz shouted.
“I can tell you are, and I respect your anger- I share an awful lot of it”, James said, visibly moved by his caller’s emotion.
James added: “If they had sold us a product, if they’d sold us a car…and it turned out to be so completely different from what was promised in the advertising campaign, in the terms and conditions in the contract of sale, they’d be in jail!”
The caller after this added his thoughts on why Britain would most likely not be welcomed back to the EU.
Boris in Luxembourg said: “I’ve got really bad news for you guys…you guys are out and I don’t think you’re going to come back”, stating the prospect was “illusionary” before breaking down four reasons for his assertion.
Boris explained that many financial centres have “moved operations” to places like Paris, Luxembourg, Dublin and Amsterdam, which are now in an “absolute boom at the moment” and experiencing rising costs of living comparable to London.
“Issue number two”, Boris continued. “I don't have to lecture you or the British people about the French-UK relationship over the last 100 years. In 1967 Charles de Gaulle gave you the veto”, he said, referring to the former French President rejecting British accession to what was then the European Economic Community.
Unanimous support among all member states would be required for Britain to rejoin.
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Boris’ third point to James was: “Think about all these Eastern European countries that used to give the UK and many of the Western EU countries cheap labour…Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania…those countries don't want to lose their cheap labour to you guys.”
His final reason was: “Many of the politicians in Brussels didn’t really welcome all the transparency that some of your UK politicians were forcing them to do. One of the amazing things about Britain and British politics is the transparency that you have. They might not want that in Brussels.”
James heartily agreed with him and said "Schengen and the single currency" would also be "incredibly hard sells for the Conservative Party, never mind the British public" to consider rejoining.
The conversation around Brexit fuelled reactions on Twitter.
We all do. We want to see all those people who profited and where the money came from.
— Brett the hitman heart (@gunmanbrett) November 4, 2022
Excellent contribution from Loz 👏
— Nick (@Nick_FX) November 4, 2022
"The first thing, James, is Mr Starmer has to tell the British people we're going back into the Single Market."
Spot on. Rejoining the SM is the only way to undo (most of) the damage of Johnson & Frost's (entirely unnecessary) hard Brexit.
Do you ever think that if the losing side, had got behind the winning side instead of doing everything to make it fail, we'd have had a far better brexit than this fiasco?
— Arch Stanton (@Crawford06K) November 4, 2022
