And Who Lost It For Nothing

We are already in NATO with Turkey, and that causes much more trouble than Turkish accession to the EU ever would.

Neither Boris Johnson nor Michael Gove has any desire for us to leave NATO. But then, neither of them has any desire for us to leave the EU, either.

Even the Mail on Sunday is fiercely for Remain today. I say "even", but of course it is.

I told you that the right-wing papers would fall into line as polling day approached. Only the Morning Star will hold firm. Again, of course.

Johnson and Gove want a Remain vote, and are indeed doing a very good job of ensuring one simply by their presence in the Leave camp. Who would want to vote the same way as either of them?

But they also want to be seen by the remnant of the Conservative Party as having gone down gallantly for a cause that they curiously imagine that remnant to support.

Yet, in point of fact, that party elected David Cameron over David Davis, and a large number of Davis's supporters have since left or died.

The people who are in it now are mostly in it because of David Cameron, on everything from same-sex marriage to the EU.

Moreover, behind the scenes, and increasingly back in front of them, Michael Heseltine remains at least as influential as he ever was.

The people who fund the Conservative Party have funded the Remain campaign, with none other than Michael Gove handing out sweeties to them in return.

A Conservative Party led by a Brexiteer would be as bankrupt as UKIP is on the brink of going.

Expect the funding of George Osborne's and Theresa May's Leadership campaigns to be limitless. One or other of them will become Prime Minister.

By contrast, Gove and Johnson will be remembered as nothing more than the men who lost a referendum. And who lost it for nothing.