However, it already looks like the tactics are starting to get a little dirty if my experiences of the last 24 hours are anything to go by, which included attacks on my business and the livelihoods of my workforce.
On Thursday I wrote on my blog asking people to consider the likelihood that the UK could opt out of paying its dues to the EU by leaving, while retaining all the benefits of membership.
I wrote that I didn’t believe that such a golden ticket existed in the real world and agreed with Britain Stronger In Europe’s Stuart Rose, that those who did were living in a ‘fantasy world’.
Life has taught me a few very sound lessons, and one of the most basic is that you don’t ever get something for nothing, which sounds much better in the phrase ‘there’s no such thing as a free lunch.’ This, though it would seem, is exactly what the likes of Douglas Carswell and Nigel Farage of the Europe Quitters Campaign, would have us believe.
According to them, who’ve clearly never run a successful business, the UK can opt out of all the associated costs of being part of Europe while still enjoying all the trade and other benefits. That’s the fantasy world that these ‘Free Lunchers’ are trying to convince people to vote for.
The response from these ‘Free Lunchers’ was as swift as it was disgraceful, and was delivered via a Twitter account called @eureferendum.
Instead of countering with argument and debate they resorted to what I believe the Twitter-generation calls ‘trolling’ by urging people to boycott Pimlico Plumbers because I have publically adopted a pro-Europe stance. This, in my mind, is nothing short of despicable and shows how lacking in moral fibre and just plain desperate these people are.
I have very broad shoulders and am happy to take whatever people throw at me. I’ve been knocked out cold in the boxing ring fighting for London against Wales, and I almost lost my business to the banks during the recession of the early 1990s. But, to attack the livelihoods of my 300 workers who rely on Pimlico Plumbers to support their families because of my views, is cowardly and below the belt.
It also appears to show something quite ugly just under the surface of Leave.eu in that it is prepared to attack a vehemently pro-British business in order to achieve its political goals.
They would have us believe that by being anti-EU they are for all things British, but it turns out they are prepared to stomp into the dust anyone who disagrees with them, be they British or European.
I look forward to enjoying more troll attacks; as they just prove the desperation of those who for reasons that are usually unspoken, want Britain out of the EU.
