Judges who quashed an attempt to prosecute Boris Johnson for misconduct in public office over his behaviour during the Brexit referendum have said his use of Britain’s £350 million a week gross obligations to the EU budget in campaign literature warrants “no complaint”.
Campaigners with the establishment Vote Leave group which the Electoral Commission officially designated in 2016 preferred to use subdivisions of Britain’s gross contribution to the EU budget when describing the country’s fiscal liabilities as an EU member-state, as “it is the sum that we cannot control, that Brussels preempts”.
Remainers long argued that this was misleading, and that the discount from Britain’s rebate — secured by the late Margaret Thatcher after years of overpayments, but partially given away by Tony Blair — and money returned to Britain in the form of so-called EU funding — often spent inefficiently, in ways Britain cannot control — should be subtracted.
The debate may have been put to bed at last, however, by judges in the aforementioned case appearing to conclude that Johnson’s use of the gross figure — which Vote Leave actually understated — warranted “no complaint” so long as he was clear that it was a gross figure, and not a net figure, as noted by the Guido Fawkes political blog:
“The alleged offence set out in the Application for Summons is that the Claimant “repeatedly made and endorsed false and misleading statements concerning the cost of the United Kingdom’s membership of the European Union”. It appears that if the Claimant had said/endorsed a figure of £350m per week gross, or £250m per week net, there would have been no complaint.”
Johnson was indeed clear that the net figure for Britain’s contribution to the EU, while still substantial, was different, with Guido Fawkes highlighting an appearance on Good Morning Britain when the matter was discussed at some length by way of example, alongside further statements on the Andrew Marr Show on the BBC and in a set-piece speech in Dartford.
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