It takes only 15 minutes and a few sips of his diet Pepsi for Tim Martin to alight on his favourite topic. After spending months trotting up and down the country and appearing on any television station that would have him, he rejoiced when Britain voted to leave the European Union. But the rejoicing didn’t last long.
“Tony Blair hit the nail on the head when he said Boris doesn’t have a plan,” he booms, causing three customers to look up warily from a nearby table at the JD Wetherspoon Metropolitan Bar in London’s Baker Street. “One of the big advantages of Brexit is to get rid of the f***ing tariffs,” he fumes. In his view, Britain should become a free trade economy - striking more international agreements. “They haven’t done it! If you criticise the EU for its protectionism, there’s an implicit promise you’re going to do something different.”
If Martin feels let down with how the government has handled Brexit, it has so far done nothing to knock his resolve. The major thing about democracy, he says, is that “in spite of the chaos, and it’s often chaotic, it does work better than the alternative, as Churchill said”.
- The Sunday Times. To read the full interview click here
