Lord Lawson, Chair, Vote Leave campaign, February 2016, before referendum
“Sadly, and it is sad, a bad agreement is all that is likely to be on offer.”
Lord Lawson, March 2017, after referendum
Entering the Brexit Hall of Shame this week, we have Nigel Lawson: diet book author; father of famous TV chef; Baron Lawson of Blaby. Before the EU referendum, as chair of the Vote Leave campaign, he was confident that the UK would benefit from post-Brexit trade with the EU “almost certainly assisted by a bilateral free trade agreement, which they need far more than we do.” A year later, he now says “Sadly, and it is sad, a bad agreement is all that is likely to be on offer.” This is an unusually clear-sighted and evidence-based view from Lawson, particularly given his noted climate scepticism. What has caused the scales to fall from his eyes and cold realisation to dawn is not known, but it doesn’t matter because Lord Lawson is still all for leaving the EU and arguing against any attempt to allow our elected representatives a say in how it happens.
Like Margaret Thatcher, the PM he served as Chancellor, Nigel is not for turning.
