Referendum round-up: The clash of the quartets

The referendum debate was a clash of quartets todayThe referendum debate was a clash of quartets today
The referendum debate was a clash of quartets today
FOUR was the magic number on the EU referendum campaign trail today as both Remain and Leave fielded quartets to make their pitches.

In a warehouse in Stratford-upon-Avon, the Conservatives’ Michael Gove and Boris Johnson were joined by Labour Gisela Stuart and former British Chambers of Commerce chief John Longworth to argue British sovereignty and democracy would strengthened by a Leave vote.

Meanwhile, Remain made the best pitch yet for the “most unlikely group of politicians to share a platform” prize of the campaign as David Cameron was joined by Natalie Bennett, Tim Farron and Harriet Harman to launch a dossier deriding the economic claims made by Leave.

You can read the upshot of all that here:

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The Remain campaign was both politically and gender balanced, something which will not be the case in Thursday night’s big TV debate where Boris Johnson will be the only male politician.

In case anyone was worried the referendum debate had become too politically correct, GMB General Secretary Tim Roach described pro-Brexit minister Priti Patel as “surely a contradiction in a name”. The comment triggered a wave of condemnation although he insisted the comment had been taken out of context.

Surprisingly, that was not the most stomach-churning comment of the day from the referendum campaign as former health minister Edwina Currie responded to an insult from a pro-Leave campaigner referring to her affair with Sir John Major with the tweet: “We didn’t sleep....”.

Looking ahead to tomorrow, on our opinion pages a former Yorkshire Conservative MP reveals they will be voting to leave the EU because they are appalled at David Cameron’s campaign tactics and argues the PM should have remained neutral.

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You can also read the latest views on the referendum from our readers here:

Keep up to date with the referendum campaign on our dedicated page:

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