Wetherspoon’s boss Tim Martin slams everyone who backed Remain in a lengthy essay
On announcing his company's preliminary results this morning, JD Wetherspoon chairman Tim Martin took the opportunity to slam David Cameron and George Osborne for their conduct during the referendum campaign.
In great detail, Martin listed the people who forecast a disastrous downturn for the country, in some cases, even citing the newspaper article they were featured in.
He criticised them for failing to see the "political chaos" that continued membership of the EU – which he dubbed "an organisation of Byzantine complexity, run by five unelected presidents, with input from numerous other parts of the many-headed Hydra" – would create for Britain.
Martin said:
Just as the combined intellectual weight of the 'good and great' could not see through the flaws in the euro, they have, with honourable exceptions, been unable to see that the principle flaw of the EU – an absence of democracy – will almost certainly lead to further economic and political chaos, and to more dire consequences for those who are subject to EU decisions. The overwhelming economic evidence is that successful countries are democracies.
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And Martin certainly pulled no punches when it came to the "like-minded" economists who warned against Brexit:
Consensus forecasts from economists, who generally failed to forecast the last recession or the catastrophic flaws of the euro, are almost always delusional.
He then went on to dismiss the idea that Britain needs any sort of trade deal with the European Union, comparing the negotiations with his own personal experience as a pub boss.
"Now that the gloomy economic forecasts for the immediate aftermath of the referendum have been proven to be false, 'Scare Story 2' is that failure to agree on trade deal with the EU will have devastating consequences," he said.
"This was articulated by fund manager Nicola Horlick this week, who told Radio 4 listeners that leaving the Single Market would relegate the UK from the fifth-biggest economy in the world to the eighth or ninth.
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"In contrast, Wetherspoon's experience indicates that reaching formal trade deals with reluctant counterparties is impossible – and it is unwise to try."
Here's a full list of all the people and institutions Martin was lording it over this morning: