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Former New Statesman editor Paul Johnson attacks 'confusing' EU referendum campaign

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By Noel Young, Correspondent

June 29, 2016 | 4 min read

In a thinkpiece published in Forbes, former editor of the New Statesman and close adviser to Margaret Thatcher, Paul Johnson, has criticised the referendum campaign on Britain’s EU membership, saying it was "marked by confusion, contradictions and a great deal of lying."

EU referendum Paul Johnson

Johnson has crticised the EU referendum political campaign

The confusion, said Johnson, was particularly evident in the US government’s stance: "The White House and Congress, along with prominent individuals, urge Britain to remain in the EU, but at a lower level quiet voices urge quitting," he said.

Johnson, whose piece was published before the result of the vote was known, said the official line of the US defense department was 'Remain'.

"But many generals argue that the EU is undermining Nato and would like to see Britain leave. It’s the same at the State Department: Publicly it’s adamant that Britain remain, but many US embassies in Europe believe departure is in the interests of both the UK and the US – and say so, though not on the record."

Until recently official opinion throughout Britain and, indeed, in most of Europe, was that Hillary Clinton would win the election, something Johnson argued is no longer true. He said that Trump’s rise was "one of the many factors transforming world politics and making any kind of prediction hazardous."

British prime minister David Cameron has always refused to take Trump seriously. "But then, he’s ceasing to be taken seriously himself and is expected to fade rapidly from the scene in midsummer," added Johnson, pre-empting Cameron's resignation.

A Donald Trump-Boris Johnson understanding, along the lines of Margaret Thatcher’s with Ronald Reagan, is now a distinct possibility said the writer – "and what the world needs. The Thatcher-Reagan liaison was what won the Cold War for the West, along with many other benefits."

What everyone wants, according to him, is to revive an old phrase of FDR’s - a 'new deal' – "and a Trump-Boris axis is one way to get it. Needless to say, such an outcome is highly uncertain and depends on results that are unpredictable but worth pondering," he mused.

Johnson pointed out that President Obama had publicly urged the UK to remain, "but his intervention was much resented in Britain and is likely to have been counterproductive. The view in London is that Obama doesn’t understand the EU and that his recent trip to Europe was a “comedy turn.”

Johnson said prime Minister David Cameron and Chancellor George Osborne had conspired to corrupt the British Treasury– "into publishing alarmist and factually unreliable reports on the consequences of Britain’s departure."

Cameron was particularly rash in his speeches on the consequences of a Vote Leave vote, which according to Johnson, "pretty much destroying his credibility on the subject."

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