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Well, You Did Ask…: Why the UK voted to leave the EU
The UK's vote to leave the European Union shocked the world - not to mention many people in Britain. What it revealed about our country is at least as significant for the future of politics as Brexit itself. Drawing on more than two years of intensive research by Lord Ashcroft Polls, Well, You Did Ask… explains how voters came to make the most momentous political decision of our time - how they saw the choice before them, what they made of the campaign, its personalities, claims and counterclaims - and why they ultimately chose to take the UK out of the EU. As the country sets about negotiating a new relationship with Europe, it also offers a colourful and revealing look at what our continental neighbours think about Britain and the British. To think clearly about what the referendum result means, we first need to understand how it came about. The answers are in this book.
- GenresNonfiction
150 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 1, 2016
6 people are currently reading
11 people want to read
About the author
Michael Ashcroft
41 books13 followersMichael Anthony P. Ashcroft, Baron Ashcroft, KCMG, PC is an English–Belizean businessman and politician. He is a former deputy chairman of the Conservative Party. Ashcroft founded Michael A. Ashcroft Associates in 1972 and is the 95th richest person in the UK, as ranked by the Sunday Times Rich List 2017, with an estimated fortune of £1.35 billion.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 21, 2017
Diabolical. Dreadful. Let's all abuse the Greeks and the Germans and blame them for the state of the United Kingdom.
Don't read this book. It justifies xenophobia instead of reasoned argument about cultural differences and the political economy.
Great Britain is not great. It is a former colonial power. Good luck with that.
Don't read this book. It justifies xenophobia instead of reasoned argument about cultural differences and the political economy.
Great Britain is not great. It is a former colonial power. Good luck with that.
July 7, 2017
This Brexit book focuses on the voters-why they voted the way they did, their influences and what they think is happening in the world. It focuses on the UK voters of course but also looks at focus groups in other European countries to see what they think about the same issues that Brits were voting on. It was quite eye opening.
Voters in Bulgaria had concerns that free movement meant the young people would all leave for other countries with better jobs while others welcomed this as the young sent their wages back to their relatives. "When the elderly die we will be lost as a nation" one voter complained. In Poland voters complained about their taxes funding University courses and the graduating students taking their skills abroad. Croatia, Latvia and Lithuania thought too many of their people were going to other countries. Sweden worried about too many migrants coming in, Germans worried about the same and their lack of integration into German society.
Denmark, Sweden and Germany felt they were taking too many while others took very little. Well Germany, blame your leader for saying anyone who wanted to live in Germany would be welcome! Greeks and French were viewed by other voters as cheating on EU rules. Some of this was pretty interesting to read about. My favourite bit was when a British voter was asked what he thought of Boris Johnson and the Hitler issue in the media and the worried voter replied 'he didn't do one of those salutes did he?' I had to laugh at that.
What let down the book a bit for me is the amount of graphics to show the results of the polls-I just felt it was all too small to read and the layout was confusing. I didn't get at a glance what each graphic was trying to say and I started to skip them. It was a little too technical for me personally, but still an interesting read.
Voters in Bulgaria had concerns that free movement meant the young people would all leave for other countries with better jobs while others welcomed this as the young sent their wages back to their relatives. "When the elderly die we will be lost as a nation" one voter complained. In Poland voters complained about their taxes funding University courses and the graduating students taking their skills abroad. Croatia, Latvia and Lithuania thought too many of their people were going to other countries. Sweden worried about too many migrants coming in, Germans worried about the same and their lack of integration into German society.
Denmark, Sweden and Germany felt they were taking too many while others took very little. Well Germany, blame your leader for saying anyone who wanted to live in Germany would be welcome! Greeks and French were viewed by other voters as cheating on EU rules. Some of this was pretty interesting to read about. My favourite bit was when a British voter was asked what he thought of Boris Johnson and the Hitler issue in the media and the worried voter replied 'he didn't do one of those salutes did he?' I had to laugh at that.
What let down the book a bit for me is the amount of graphics to show the results of the polls-I just felt it was all too small to read and the layout was confusing. I didn't get at a glance what each graphic was trying to say and I started to skip them. It was a little too technical for me personally, but still an interesting read.
March 22, 2019
A wonderful lid lifted off public opinion before the disastrous Brexit referendum. The book is a summary of research performed by Lord Ashcroft Polls before the referendum, providing insight as to why Brits voted the ways that they did.
For me, one respondent cited on p.98 seems to sum it up nicely: "We should never have had a vote. It's too complex. I just can't understand the issue. With a referendum I think it needs to be something really quite simple..." It's apparent that the referendum required everyday, interested and intelligent people to vote on something they simply did not know enough about. It's clear, too, that the Remain group focussed too much on the fearful consequences of leaving instead of proclaiming the benefits of remaining; also clear is that the expert reports and views were often pitched much too highly for voters to consider.
I found it interesting that the referendum exposed how inadequate it is to categorise people by political party allegiances. The book concludes that "The starkest differences between leave and remain voters were not in their demographic characteristics or even their usual political allegiances, but in their social attitudes and general view of the world" (p.112). I wonder the extent to which - particularly in the US - we are too quick to label people based on their political views, which likely have little to do with their much deeper, more strongly held personal views.
I only hope that the UK can make better sense of itself as it comes to what May - or May not be - its closing Brexit gambit in the weeks and months ahead.
For me, one respondent cited on p.98 seems to sum it up nicely: "We should never have had a vote. It's too complex. I just can't understand the issue. With a referendum I think it needs to be something really quite simple..." It's apparent that the referendum required everyday, interested and intelligent people to vote on something they simply did not know enough about. It's clear, too, that the Remain group focussed too much on the fearful consequences of leaving instead of proclaiming the benefits of remaining; also clear is that the expert reports and views were often pitched much too highly for voters to consider.
I found it interesting that the referendum exposed how inadequate it is to categorise people by political party allegiances. The book concludes that "The starkest differences between leave and remain voters were not in their demographic characteristics or even their usual political allegiances, but in their social attitudes and general view of the world" (p.112). I wonder the extent to which - particularly in the US - we are too quick to label people based on their political views, which likely have little to do with their much deeper, more strongly held personal views.
I only hope that the UK can make better sense of itself as it comes to what May - or May not be - its closing Brexit gambit in the weeks and months ahead.
March 10, 2017
Why I Voted Leave
I found this analysis objective and relatively easy to understand, although the graphs and charts were a tad confusing due to complexity. More than anything, I recognised many, if not most of my opinions in the various analyses and observations. If there was a surprise it was the lack of references to Britains history and its impact on the freedoms we enjoy today, many of which are/were being stripped from us remorselessly by the unelected behemoth of the European elite, Common Law being a major example of it.
I found this analysis objective and relatively easy to understand, although the graphs and charts were a tad confusing due to complexity. More than anything, I recognised many, if not most of my opinions in the various analyses and observations. If there was a surprise it was the lack of references to Britains history and its impact on the freedoms we enjoy today, many of which are/were being stripped from us remorselessly by the unelected behemoth of the European elite, Common Law being a major example of it.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews