28 Jan 2016

Arron Banks – pitbull or saviour?

This has been a week of feverish activity in the Leave camp and tonight we take a look at the man who has a good claim to have stirred it all up: Arron Banks.

His insurgent Leave campaign, Leave.eu, has been biting at the heels of Vote Leave for months. It mocks the stately inactivity of Vote Leave, its Westminster obsession and its lack of grassroots activity.

Vote Leave refutes all these claims, and sources there suggest that Leave.eu is a dangerous, unguided missile. Legal threats have whizzed between the offices and much abuse flies around too.

This week, Eurosceptic Tory MPs began to slip into full-scale panic, worrying that their side is in lousy shape for the impending and potentially critical moment of the 18th February Brussels summit. They’ve plotted, tried to get the Vote Leave  nears, potentially marking the start of the Long referendum campaign.

In his interview for Channel 4 News, Arron Banks talks about his contempt for the Vote Leave campaign and its inability to reach normal people. He speaks of the anger that fuels his politics, his loathing for the establishment in all its forms, his longing to give them a good kicking. And he suggests that, win or lose, the political landscape could change radically in the aftermath of a referendum with Ukip itself potentially swept aside by new forces in the upheaval.

Tweets by @garygibbonc4