“The worst pro-Brexit book ever written.”
Publishing a book entitled 75 Brexit Benefits is bold, if not outright deluded, especially now that even the government has admitted Brexit’s failure.
At the Labour Party conference in Liverpool, Keir Starmer condemned the “self-appointed representatives of the people” who “sold the lie of Brexit and walked away.” It marked a historic moment, the first time a sitting PM openly acknowledged that Brexit was not the patriotic triumph it was promised to be, but a national mistake.
Enter ‘Gully Foyle,’ a pseudonym lifted from an American 1956 sci-fi novel, who has now published 75 Brexit Benefits: Tangible Benefits From the UK Having Left the EU. The book is listed on the political bookshop Politicos, which describes it as covering everything from “animal rights protections” to “zero VAT on green energy,” supposedly offering benefits that improve life for every UK citizen.
According to the book’s promo: “Whether you are on either side of the debate or one of the few on the fence wanting more information, this book will provide you with the necessary information to come to an informed decision for yourself – that there are indeed benefits of Brexit.”
To promote the release, the pro-Brexit website Briefings for Britain, run by a handful of former academics, published a “76th benefit” from the author, that UK consumers can now access Apple’s real-time translation feature faster, supposedly because EU regulations like the Digital Markets Act delay such innovations.
Needless to say, the book has been widely mocked.
The New European’s Jonty Bloom, called it “the worst pro-Brexit book ever written.” He notes that the author hides behind a ‘nom de plume,’ possibly to avoid ridicule from friends and family.
Bloom dissects the claims that the likes of longer lorries and US tariffs introduced under Trump are “benefits,” while pointing to the overwhelming evidence that Brexit has damaged UK trade. “The author might like to chat to the road haulage industry about the damage Brexit has done to its business in Europe, or to our exporters, who would have a few sharp words for him,” Bloom adds.
The book’s foreword is even penned by Sir John Redwood, a veteran Eurosceptic, who claims: “At last after nine years of anti-Brexit propaganda, here are the facts.”
Yes, the former MP for Wokingham, was twice an unsuccessful candidate for the leadership of the Conservative Party in the 1990s, was knighted in 2018 and later defended Liz Truss, saying she was still the best choice for prime minister, despite the turmoil she cause with her mini-budget.
And it comes as no surprise that the book’s publisher is the Bruges Group, an anti-EU think-tank set up in February 1989, with the aim to promote the idea of a less centralised European structure than that emerging in Brussels. As its website states: “Its inspiration was Margaret Thatcher’s Bruges speech in September 1988, in which she remarked:
“We have not successfully rolled back the frontiers of the state in Britain, only to see them reimposed at a European level, with a European superstate exercising a new dominance from Brussels.”
Online, the book got a hammering. Leeds for Europe commented: “An interesting read [in response to Jonty Bloom’s article]. We have been aware of “Gully Foyle” the author of the book for some time. He (I assume) is a particularly nasty Twitter troll who has been churning out this stuff for years. If you dare question him, or worst still prove him wrong you are met with a torrent of abuse and then an orchestrated “pile on” from his behind his pseudonym. It is interesting that he maintains the pseudonym for the book and probably tells you what you want to know…he is not brave enough to stand behind his claims…”
And, a quick glance of the kind of thing ‘Gully Foyle’ is posting on X, reposts from Dan Hodges, Sadiq Khan bashing content, etc., you get the picture.
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