The reputations made and broken in a battle of Britain

WHOSE reputation has been enhanced by the EU referendum campaign which finally ended last night four long '“ and bitter '“ months after David Cameron returned to London from Brussels with the terms of the renegotiation that he had secured?
Boris Johnson in Selby - an election winner or loser?Boris Johnson in Selby - an election winner or loser?
Boris Johnson in Selby - an election winner or loser?

Whose reputation has been left diminished by the mud-slinging and point-scoring, which had brought politics into disrepute long before the Batley & Spen MP Jo Cox was shot and stabbed to death outside her constituency surgery in Birstall on Thursday of last week?

And who are the names to watch as the political parties come to terms with the result – and what does this mean for the country’s place in the world?

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Here political editor James Reed, lobby correspondent Kate Proctor and comment editor Tom Richmond give their personal verdicts on their winners and losers.

REMAIN: WINNER

Amber Rudd: JR. Could not claim to be a household name before the referendum but the Energy Secretary’s public recognition rose significantly following her energetic performance in ITV’s EU debate, and her no-holds-barred approach to confronting Boris Johnson over his personal ambitions.

Alan Johnson: KP. Boy has this Labour grandee put in the hard yards for his party. He’s hardly been off a campaign bus since May. Always extraordinarily well briefed, succinct and a champion for regional prosperity. He even had the good grace to let the lukewarm Jeremy Corbyn take the lead at Labour’s fightback event on the NHS.

Sadiq Khan: TR. Vilified by the Tories in a campaign which bordered, at times, on the racist, the new Mayor of London had the magnanimity to appear alongside David Cameron to make the Remain case and then starred in Tuesday’s X Factor-style BBC debate. His dignity, and ability to reach out to people of all faiths, has only enhanced the reputation of this proud son of an immigrant bus driver.

REMAIN: loser

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George Osborne: JR. His increasingly dire warnings of the impact of Brexit on everything from public services to house prices left some in the Remain camp questioning the credibility of such claims. Voters have struggled to believe that the fifth largest economy in the world would suffer to the extent the Chancellor has claimed.

Jeremy Corbyn: KP. In the next edition of the encyclopedia of political strategies Mr Corbyn’s approach will be filed somewhere between “obscure” and “obstructive”. He failed to shake off his own personal views and lead from the front on why Britain should Remain, telling a TV chat that his passion for the EU was only “seven, or seven and a half out of 10”.

Sajid Javid: TR. Has anyone seen the Business Secretary? He’s been the ‘invisible man’, even though his is the Cabinet brief which is most integral to Britain’s future relationship with the EU. A noted Eurosceptic, it looks increasingly clear that he put his own prospects – and close allegiance to Chancellor George Osborne – before his own principles.

Remain: One to watch

Sarah Wollaston: JR. Already one of Parliament’s most independent-minded MPs, Sarah Wollaston’s stock rose still further 
when she swapped sides from Leave to Remain. Not only did she earn credit for being a politician willing to change her mind, the chairman of the health select committee was also praised for the considered and measured way in which she revealed her change of heart after disputing Leave’s claims on the NHS.

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Dan Jarvis: KP. The Barnsley Central MP made the case for how EU membership enhances security from his first-hand military experience. He spoke convincingly on the value of the EU arrest warrant, and even got former EastEnders star Ross Kemp to attend one of his mini-rallies. His hard-headed case to Remain will have spoken to many.

Theresa May: TR. A noted Eurosceptic. the Home Secretary must have had very good reason for backing the EU when she has been dealing with immigration and security 
issues every day since May 2010. Non-confrontational, despite being effectively accused of mismanagement by former
 Cabinet colleague Iain Duncan Smith, she remains, after a low-profile campaign, the
 ‘least worst’ candidate for the party leadership if the PM falls on his sword.

LEAVE: Winner

Nigel Farage: JR. His style of campaigning upset many. but that did not worry Nigel Farage. Shunned by the official Leave campaign, Mr Farage embraced his outsider status and cemented his relationship with Ukip grassroots. He also enjoyed parity of esteem with David Cameron when ITV booked him to represent Leave to balance their Q&A with the Prime Minister.

Boris Johnson: KP. Remarkably, despite insulting the President of the United States, Mr Johnson’s popularity rarely faltered. At one point, a poll showed that voters thought Mr Johnson was twice as likely to tell the truth about Europe than David Cameron. This blonde-mopped campaigning machine enlivened town centres across the UK on his campaign tour, and put himself up for TV debates like a jolly good sport.

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Michael Gove: TR. I was not a fan of Mr Gove when he was Education Secretary – he sought confrontation on too many occasions for his own good. All I can say is that the Justice Secretary has been one of the more polite and gracious campaigners, and in contrast to his tedious wife, the newspaper commentator Sarah Vine, who chose, instead, to provide an embittered commentary on her husband’s longstanding friendship with David Cameron.

LEAVE: Loser

Chris Grayling: JR. The Leader of the Commons has barely made an impact. Any benefit he might have hoped to gain from being seen by his party’s grassroots supporters to be standing up to the Prime Minister has failed to materialise as Michael Gove and Boris Johnson have hogged the headlines. In David Cameron’s eyes, he may now be seen as neither loyal nor popular enough to demand a senior role in a Cabinet reshuffle.

Arron Banks: KP. Hardly a day went by during the campaign without Leave.eu’s financial backer tweeting a strongly worded comment or threatening legal action. He got very angry about Vote Leave winning the official designation to campaign to leave the EU. It’s saying something when Ukip leader Nigel Farage appears to be the only man who can calm him down.

Priti Patel: TR. Do the “luxury” lifestyles of leading Remain campaigners mean they are “insulated” from the impact of rising immigration? The Employment Minister thinks so. She made this allegation against David Cameron and George Osborne. Yet, in October 2013 when Ms Patel was a humble backbencher, she stood up in the Commons and praised their “great progress” on this policy. What changed?

LEAVE: One to watch

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Penny Mordaunt: JR. Already tipped as a Conservative rising star, she put the Leave case while doing little to upset party colleagues on the Remain side of the debate. The Armed Forces Minister is one of the few senior Tories on the Leave side who could sit in a future Cabinet with Messrs Cameron and Osborne.

George Eustice: KP. The Farming Minister is representative of many Brexit-leaning Tories who made their case eloquently, intellectually and politely. If Britain leaves the EU and David Cameron stays on to oversee negotiations, promoting people like George Eustice will be part of the strategy to heal Conservative wounds.

Andrea Leadsom: TR. This won’t make me popular with Ryedale’s anti-fracking campaigners, but Energy Secretary Amber Rudd’s deputy presented the financial case for Brexit in a business-like and plausible way without resorting to alarmist language. As befitting a politician with vast experience of 
the financial services industry, she could, in time, become Britain’s first female Chancellor of the Exchequer.