Whistleblower questions Brexit result, says campaigners broke election law

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Whistleblower questions Brexit result, says campaigners broke election law

By Alistair Smout

 

Cambridge Analytica whistleblower Christopher Wylie at a news conference in central London, Britain, March 26, 2018. REUTERS/Toby Melville

 

LONDON (Reuters) - A whistleblower at the heart of a Facebook data scandal on Monday questioned the result of Britain's 2016 Brexit referendum as his lawyers presented evidence that they said showed the main campaign for leaving the EU had broken the law.

 

With just a year until Britain is due to leave the European Union, two whistleblowers - one from the British political consultancy Cambridge Analytica and one from the Vote Leave group - have alleged that Brexitcampaigners funded their campaign illegally.

 

By doing so, they have pulled Brexit into a scandal that has forced Mark Zuckerberg to apologise for how Facebook handled users' data, and raised questions about how Donald Trump's 2016 campaign employed data.

 

Vote Leave officials on Monday denied breaking election rules and said they were facing an attempt to undermine Brexit by smearing their reputations.

 

The whistleblowers' law firm, London-based Bindmans, released 53 pages of selected evidence on Monday.

 

In a legal opinion, Bindmans said there was a prima facie case that Vote Leave broke election spending limits by donating to an allied group known as BeLeave, with which it was working closely.

 

"Can we be confident in the result of the referendum?" said whistleblower Christopher Wylie, formerly of Cambridge Analytica. "This is not refighting the referendum. This is about the integrity of the democratic process."

 

"If this country is on the path of an irreversible decision, we really should be confident that the basis of that decision came from a free and fair vote - and what this evidence does is it calls into question whether it was free and fair."

 

Reuters was unable to verify the allegations made against Vote Leave. Matthew Elliott, its former CEO, said the allegations were wrong.

"Vote Leave did not break the law," Elliott told Reuters. "Voters can be confident this was a free and fair referendum."

 

Elliott said the Electoral Commission had twice looked into Vote Leave's relationship with BeLeave and had given it a clean bill of health both times. He said he was confident that the third investigation would produce the same result.

 

"The basis of all this is an attempt by people on the 'Remain' campaign to call into doubt the result of the EU referendum," Elliott said.

 

(Reporting by Alistair Smout, writing by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-03-27

[Guest]

It's been few years and finally the unethical and apparently also unlawful campaigning is coming to limelight. 

 

Probably best thing to do is for UK to have a new, clean referendum about brexit. On this round the voters are far better informed what brexit really means as well as how they were fooled by the leave campaign. 

 

It's time to put end to brexit silliness and start building a better and improved EU, instead of trying to dismantle it. It's not too late for that.

 

[PJPom]

Why can people not accept a democratic vote that results in them not winning.

The comments that only the lesser educated voted to leave shows their disdain for true democracy , 1984 is truly here, all are equal but some consider themselves more equal than others!.

Edited March 27, 2018 by PJPom
Additional thought

[nev]

Just because the vote did not go the way that was planned does not mean the remainder's can demand another vote, would the remainers be demanding another vote if the vote was to stay I don't think so.

[Guest]

8 minutes ago, nev said:

Just because the vote did not go the way that was planned does not mean the remainder's can demand another vote, would the remainers be demanding another vote if the vote was to stay I don't think so.

Fool me once, blame on you. Fool me twice.. we'll it's time for new referendum vote. This time the fooling part is not that easy anymore as voters are better educated. 

 

 

[nev]

6 minutes ago, oilinki said:

Fool me once, blame on you. Fool me twice.. we'll it's time for new referendum vote. This time the fooling part is not that easy anymore as voters are better educated. 

 

 

So you are saying leavers are to dumb to vote and get it correct, in fact all the scaremongering from the remainers as proven to be false and the economy is in good shape.

If they had a new referendum I am sure the vote to leave would be even higher.

[Guest]

1 minute ago, nev said:

So you are saying leavers are to dumb to vote and get it correct, in fact all the scaremongering from the remainers as proven to be false and the economy is in good shape.

If they had a new referendum I am sure the vote to leave would be even higher.

The voters were not expecting the new kind of information pressure, which was there to alter their views. Yes, they got confused and fooled by this unethical propaganda. 

 

[overherebc]

So after the next general election the losers will drag some unknown, who fancies his 15 minutes of fame, from some social media site to claim the whole thing was rigged and they, the losers, will demand another election. ??

[Baerboxer]

3 hours ago, oilinki said:

It's been few years and finally the unethical and apparently also unlawful campaigning is coming to limelight. 

 

Probably best thing to do is for UK to have a new, clean referendum about brexit. On this round the voters are far better informed what brexit really means as well as how they were fooled by the leave campaign. 

 

It's time to put end to brexit silliness and start building a better and improved EU, instead of trying to dismantle it. It's not too late for that.

 

 

Indeed.

 

It's been shown that certain politicians and campaigners on the VoteLeave side lied, deliberately lied and made false statements to deliberately mislead voters. 

 

Now, when a whistle blower reveals unlawful funding issues some of those same liars want us all to except their word that it's false - yeah, sure. 

 

The whole British political system is currently populated by liars, cheats, crooks and sexual predators - who have made themselves largely untouchable. 

 

Sadly, I suspect that maybe the same in many other EU member states too.

[terryw]

The Remoaners are getting desperate to stop Brexit.

[overherebc]

10 minutes ago, Baerboxer said:

 

Indeed.

 

It's been shown that certain politicians and campaigners on the VoteLeave side lied, deliberately lied and made false statements to deliberately mislead voters. 

 

Now, when a whistle blower reveals unlawful funding issues some of those same liars want us all to except their word that it's false - yeah, sure. 

 

The whole British political system is currently populated by liars, cheats, crooks and sexual predators - who have made themselves largely untouchable. 

 

Sadly, I suspect that maybe the same in many other EU member states too.

All the 'qualities' you list are requirements to become a UK politician or even a lawyer.

[Basil B]

2 hours ago, PJPom said:

Why can people not accept a democratic vote that results in them not winning.

The comments that only the lesser educated voted to leave shows their disdain for true democracy , 1984 is truly here, all are equal but some consider themselves more equal than others!.

It was far from being democratic...

 

Lies, deceit, and breaking the law with undeclared payments... sorry but we have gone too far to change the result, but there are many who should be prosecuted for there actions.

[Thaidream]

This is similar to the American election.  An independent commission needs to be set up to determine  if laws were broken and if so- prosecuted.  the same is now happening in America. The results of these commissions won't change the vote- Brexit is final and Trump is President.  However, neither America or the UK can allow it's Democratic Institutions to be bought and sold to the highest bidder and both countries need to send a message that this will never be tolerated.

[sawadee1947]

6 hours ago, overherebc said:

So after the next general election the losers will drag some unknown, who fancies his 15 minutes of fame, from some social media site to claim the whole thing was rigged and they, the losers, will demand another election. ??

Unfortunately you don't understand anything 

[overherebc]

4 minutes ago, sawadee1947 said:

Unfortunately you don't understand anything 

Please explain it all to me.

Edited March 27, 2018 by overherebc

[FitnessHealthTravel]

This guy is a CHUMP. He was fine with everything when he had his hand out taking their pay check. Nothing he has spoken about hasn't happened a million times before and furthermore he DIDN'T even work on the Trump Campaign or have anything to do with it.  Not did he have anything to do with Brexit.  Sour Grapes!!!  If you want to blame anyone, blame Facebook for allowing so many developer and University apps to connect to them.  They gave your information away and that my friends IS THE TRUTH!!!

[overherebc]

23 minutes ago, FitnessHealthTravel said:

This guy is a CHUMP. He was fine with everything when he had his hand out taking their pay check. Nothing he has spoken about hasn't happened a million times before and furthermore he DIDN'T even work on the Trump Campaign or have anything to do with it.  Not did he have anything to do with Brexit.  Sour Grapes!!!  If you want to blame anyone, blame Facebook for allowing so many developer and University apps to connect to them.  They gave your information away and that my friends IS THE TRUTH!!!

The only thing I would question in your post is why you spell faecesbook wrongly.

[malagateddy]

The remoaning snowdrop luvvies will do anything to disrupt BREXIT ...bitter sad losers..imo

Sent from my SM-G7102 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[sawadee1947]

51 minutes ago, overherebc said:

Please explain it all to me.

I don't want to repeat all what was written here. Read it carefully and then you will see that the Brexit was based on illegal influence caused by facebook. However I know that there are a lot of ignorants outside. So I can't expect that everybody would agree just they want to believe in voters fair result. 

[overherebc]

8 minutes ago, sawadee1947 said:

I don't want to repeat all what was written here. Read it carefully and then you will see that the Brexit was based on illegal influence caused by facebook. However I know that there are a lot of ignorants outside. So I can't expect that everybody would agree just they want to believe in voters fair result. 

From what I understand the vast majority of people who voted to leave were generally in, shall we say, the older age bracket. I would think not many of them would know faeces book if it jumped up and bit them on the ass.

Edit.

That was one of the complaints of many of the 'remain' voters ie it was older nationalistic voters who swung the vote because they didn't understand the future problems.

Edited March 27, 2018 by overherebc

[Grouse]

9 hours ago, PJPom said:

Why can people not accept a democratic vote that results in them not winning.

The comments that only the lesser educated voted to leave shows their disdain for true democracy , 1984 is truly here, all are equal but some consider themselves more equal than others!.

So said Napoleon in Animal farm not 1984. He was right! 

[stevenl]

13 minutes ago, overherebc said:

From what I understand the vast majority of people who voted to leave were generally in, shall we say, the older age bracket. I would think not many of them would know faeces book if it jumped up and bit them on the ass.

Edit.

That was one of the complaints of many of the 'remain' voters ie it was older nationalistic voters who swung the vote because they didn't understand the future problems.

You really show you have no idea how people are influenced, and the exponentially important role social media are playing in this.

[Grouse]

40 minutes ago, overherebc said:

The only thing I would question in your post is why you spell faecesbook wrongly.

Complaint registered 

[overherebc]

Just now, stevenl said:

You really show you have no idea how people are influenced, and the exponentially important role social media are playing in this.

Perhaps I'm not one of those who are influenced by social media.

If and when I vote in say a general election I vote for a party irrespective of whether I like the local candidate or not.

In UK it's either Con' or Lab'

Perhaps there is a need for the education system to start teaching kids what a load of crap things like faeces book really are.

[overherebc]

4 minutes ago, Grouse said:

Complaint registered 

What does that mean?

[Guest]

1 minute ago, overherebc said:

Perhaps I'm not one of those who are influenced by social media.

If and when I vote in say a general election I vote for a party irrespective of whether I like the local candidate or not.

In UK it's either Con' or Lab'

Perhaps there is a need for the education system to start teaching kids what a load of crap things like faeces book really are.

Which party did you vote for on brexit referendum? 

 

[overherebc]

3 minutes ago, oilinki said:

Which party did you vote for on brexit referendum? 

 

What has my comment on my vote on a party basis, in a general election, got to do with Brexit?

[janclaes47]

6 minutes ago, overherebc said:

Perhaps I'm not one of those who are influenced by social media.

 

Strange though that you ride your high horse about the subject on social media.

[Walter Travolta]

12 minutes ago, janclaes47 said:

 

Strange though that you ride your high horse about the subject on social media.

Why is it strange? I use social media but it doesnt influence any of my political decisions or life choices. If this is how social media runs your life then I suggest you are the one being duped, or duping yourself. Look in the mirror before analysing others

[overherebc]

11 minutes ago, janclaes47 said:

 

Strange though that you ride your high horse about the subject on social media.

In general I read TV to try and keep up with local news in Thailand and generally fully up to date information on visa rules and regulations etc. I really don't think you can compare it to the usual social media sites that will post any old crap by individuals with an agenda of some sort.