Darren Grimes, best-known as the pro-Brexit youth activist who was fined for receiving an illegal donation from Vote Leave, has made a surprisingly positive argument for freedom of movement.
In attempting to make a pop at the Irish border question gumming up the Brexit negotiations, he tweeted:
“Just crossed the border from Italy into Switzerland, not a bother, it’s almost like it doesn’t have to be. Somehow. It’s almost like it’s not beyond the wit of man.”
Who knew that vocal Brexiteers were so keen on Europe’s open border Schengen Area, which means you can make such journeys without checks?
Well, actually, we should’ve known from his fellow Brexiteers, the journalists Quentin Letts and Julia Hartley-Brewer, who have both marvelled on Twitter at similar journeys.
“Just approaching the border between France and Switzerland…” tweeted Hartley-Brewer in February. “…and now I’m in Switzerland. I reckon that took all of 20 seconds. #justsaying”.
“Just skied from the EU into independent Switzerland. Quite disgracefully, there was no hard border. Not even a line in the snow,” tweeted Letts in the same month.
Funny how ski season makes free movement advocates of even the hardest of Brexiteers.