Well, as we know, Russia denies all charges of interference. No surprise there, and, as people with a penchant for selective facts have picked up, there seems to be no evidence of Russian influence either on the referendum, the Leave campaign or, presumably, the Brexit Party. One particularly aggrieved individual with this penchant is our old mate, Nigel Farage. Nigel feels himself vindicated, as he says on Twitter:
"Years of lies and smears from Remain politicians and much of our media. There is no evidence of Russian involvement with http://Leave.EU or me in the referendum. It was all a hoax — apologies are now required". Well, Nigel will get no apologies from me and I'm happy to say that his smug declaration has been received with scorn by many commentators. One reply on Twitter put it nicely:
“I’m not sure you’ve read the same report as everybody else, Farage,” said @HerbyCumberland. “Lack of hard evidence does NOT vindicate you or anybody else. We already knew that specific named persons appear in the unpublished classified annex. You are, as usual, being very economical with the truth.”
Quoted in "The New European":
"David Head said: “Come off it. The Russia report is explicit in concluding that no evidence was sought of Russian interference in the Brexit referendum.”Quoted in "The New European":
Instead of "Not Guilty", Nigel, Arron Banks and Leave.EU have earned a verdict that is only handed down in Scottish courts: "Not Proven". There is more to be said about Nigel, his cronies and the Brexit menagerie, but I'll save that for later. As far as the government is concerned, I don't think any less of them than I already did, but their response is as shifty and mendacious as is that of the Russian government. Witness their 20-page reply to the Russia report in which, as ITV says:
"...the government said there was no need to investigate alleged Russian activity during the Brexit referendum because regular assessments are made by Intelligence and Security Agencies."
Strangely, these assessments did not pick up on the fact that Twitter found 3, 841 accounts registered to the Russian Internet Research Agency - the same accounts active in supporting Donald Trump during his victorious presidential campaign. (See my last post, or Luke Harding's book, Shadow State).
There is little to be gained by pointing out the shaky relation that this government has with the truth - especially the present Prime Minister. That's very much in the public domain. Besides this, they are all Brexit supporters, so they have a vested interest in ignoring foreign interference in the EU referendum, because it could have led to the result being declared invalid. Alistair Campbell, on ITV News, said: "Brexit is a fraud".
LibDem leader, Sir Ed Davey was quoted:
"He (Davey) accused Boris Johnson of refusing “a cross-party call to launch an inquiry because he is worried about what it might find”.
And, as James O'Brien is saying on LBC as I type, this negligence, deliberate or otherwise, could cost the Conservatives votes at the next election.
This government, then, has many good reasons to let sleeping dogs lie.
Returning to dogs, I would like to conclude by returning to the hounds of Brexit - Nigel Farage, Arron Banks, Anne Widdecombe and the Brexit Party. I'd like to return, briefly, to a topic I wrote about in September, 2019, which was the refusal of Brexit MEPs to support the EU Parliament's resolution to call for the release of EU/Iranian dual nationals being unjustly detained in Iran. I noted that Gordon Brown, M.P., had commented on possible financial links between Russia and the Brexit Party, via the Leave campaigner, Arron Banks. From this, I surmised that the Brexit shower had voted this way because Iran was Russia's ally. No conclusive evidence of Arron Banks receiving Russian money has been found, primarily because no-one has looked for it. Nevertheless, I still find the Brexit Party behaviour on this issue contemptible - and suspicious.
There is one foreign observer who finds all this of great interest - he's been in all the papers.
Hi,I agree fully.
ReplyDeleteBeing honest sits VERY far from "economical with the truth"
...and his show of dentures is cheap.