Andy McSmith's Diary: Boris Johnson's bombast has already changed the course of EU history

His record for derailing EU referendums is unsurpassed

Boris Johnson with workers at the new Crossrail Bond Street station (PA)

Boris Johnson’s first full day as a frontman for the Leave campaign was not an unqualified success, after the mauling he got from David Cameron, but do not underestimate him. His record for derailing EU referendums is unsurpassed. Years ago, he was accused by angry voices in Brussels of having done more damage to the EU project than any other journalist in its history.

In 1992, the President of the European Commission, Jacques Delors, gave a series of briefings to Brussels-based journalists on plans to strengthen the Commission so that it could cope as the EU expanded. John Palmer, of The Guardian, wrote them up as if they were a matter of common sense, but Johnson wrote that ministers from national governments were “stunned” and “appalled” by what Delors had in mind. His words appeared in The Sunday Telegraph under the headline “Delors plan to rule Europe”.

This coincided with a referendum in Denmark on whether to endorse the Maastricht Treaty, which seemed then to be heading painlessly towards a Yes vote. Anti-Maastricht campaigners seized on Johnson’s articles, and reportedly handed out copies of it. Unexpectedly, the Danes voted by 50.7 per cent to 49.3 to reject the treaty. In the ensuing upheaval, the Conservative Party went through one of its worst EU-related convulsions, during which John Major faced a confidence vote in the Commons.

An Australian newspaper reported at the time: “In Brussels, they call it the story that changed the history of the world – or at least the European Community. And they are only half joking… It is tempting to wonder what would have happened if Boris Johnson hadn’t bothered filing.”

Ukip – beyond parody

The appearance of a Ukip video, “Britain’s Coming Home” – a parody of the 1996 “Three Lions (Football’s Coming Home)” that was the official anthem of the England football team – has evoked an unwelcome memory in the cartoonist Martin Rowson. He says: “In 1996 I did a Guardian cartoon parodying ‘Three Lions’ featuring tabloid hacks led by Piers Morgan singing, ‘It’s buggered off, it’s buggered off, football’s buggered off’ after England lost that penalty thing. The record company demanded the original artwork or they’d sue for breach of copyright. I’m still not sure if they were joking, though they got the artwork.”

He added: “I hope they sue Farage.”

Berry gushing praise

“Oh – she was so lovely! She put her heart into it. She was such a natural, quiet, normal housewife,” Mary Berry gushes in Yours magazine about Samantha Cameron’s appearance in The Great Sport Relief Bake Off. Please, put this woman out to grass: give her a peerage.

Memorial for the Iron Lady

Conservative students at Kent University are thinking big. Very big. They have an online petition, which by 23 February had attracted 68 signatures, calling for a 250ft iron statue of Margaret Thatcher to be erected on campus, across the square from the university nightclub, which would “encourage good and sensible behaviour” and intimidate “lefties”.

They want the statue to include a handbag made of highly polished bronze. “Strategically placed,” the petition adds, “this would allow the sun to reflect off the handbag at certain times during the day. The statue would then serve the purpose of being a literal ‘shining testament to liberty’.”

This ghastly erection, were it ever constructed, would raise the cult of Margaret Thatcher above that of the vilest dictators in history. The statue of Saddam Hussein, torn down by a cheering Baghdad crowd in 2003, was just 39ft tall – which was considerably higher than the Stalin statue destroyed by rioters in Budapest in 1956. Even the colossal statue of Mao Zedong in Sichuan is a mere 98ft, about the same height as the Colossus of Rhodes, which the Kent petitioners cite as the inspiration for their Thatcher monstrosity. Luckily, it will never be constructed. We hope.