Why I am in: A vote to remain is a ballot against Gove and Johnson's repulsive politics

Elite intellectuals such as Johnson and Gove cynically peddling anti-intellectualism and anti-elitism for political advantage? Pass the sick bag

Michael Gove (left) and Boris Johnson and address workers during a Vote Leave campaign in Stratford-Upon-Avon (Getty)

For the majority of Britons, the European Union has always been about economics and convenience rather than politics and romance. It’s an affair of the head not the heart. That strikes me as a perfectly sensible perspective. And it’s one I broadly share.

The Remain campaign's appeals to our “Europeanness”, as well as being dubious (we would still be European even in the event of Brexit), were never going to resonate.

Believe it or not there’s a coherent economic case for Brexit, too. European economic policymaking in recent years has not been particularly impressive. And in relation to the eurozone, Europe’s leaders have wreaked misery through their dogmatism and cowardice. It’s not mad to call for Britain to put as much distance between itself and the toxic mess of the single currency as possible.

It’s also possible to imagine Brexit inflicting minimal long-term economic harm on our living standards. If we continued to be open to immigration and trade and if we used the opportunity of a Brexit rupture to enact a host of badly-needed domestic economic reforms such as loosening up the domestic planning system the pain of losing access to the single market could be offset over time.

The problem is that this coherent case hasn’t been made by Leave in this campaign. Instead, we’ve had wave after wave of protectionist rhetoric, misleading statistics, and economic fables. The Brexiteers have peddled at least six impossible things before breakfast every day during this campaign.

The general tone of the Leave campaign has been repulsive. Anyone who is shocked by the output of UKIP, the Daily Express and the Daily Mail and their vile demonisation of immigrants obviously hasn’t been paying attention. Scorpions sting people – it’s what they do. Yet the behaviour of Michael Gove and Boris Johnson, supposedly the respectable and mainstream faces of Leave, has been genuinely shocking.

The insinuations from Johnson about the supposedly anti-British mindset of Barack Obama due to his Kenyan heritage, when the US President recommended a Remain vote, were disgraceful. And Michael Gove’s casual dismissal of the honest assessment of “experts” on the impact of Brexit deserves to be an indelible stain on his reputation. Elite intellectuals such as Johnson and Gove cynically peddling anti-intellectualism and anti-elitism for political advantage? Pass the sick bag.

The conduct of the Remain side has certainly not been spotless. It was an insult to the voters’ intelligence to hear David Cameron imply Brexit would jeopardise world peace. And it was shameful to see the Treasury’s website carrying a lurid “Brexit recession” graphic, as if it were possible to make such predictions with any degree of confidence.

Yet Leave’s behaviour has been in a league of its own. For dishonesty this is a comparison between the South Downs and the Alps. For poor tone this has been a molehill versus Everest. The Leave campaign – and the poisonous post-truth and post-morality style of politics that it has embraced – simply has to be repudiated. The head and the heart of our body politic demands it. Forget the policies, that’s reason enough for me to vote to Remain on Thursday.

The EU referendum debate has so far been characterised by bias, distortion and exaggeration. So until 23 June we we’re running a series of question and answer features that explain the most important issues in a detailed, dispassionate way to help inform your decision.

What is Brexit and why are we having an EU referendum?

Does the UK need to take more control of its sovereignty?

Could the UK media swing the EU referendum one way or another?

Will the UK benefit from being released from EU laws?

Will we gain or lose rights by leaving the European Union?

Will Brexit mean that Europeans have to leave the UK?

Will leaving the EU lead to the break-up of the UK?

What will happen to immigration if there's Brexit?

Will Brexit make the UK more or less safe?

Will the UK benefit from being released from EU laws?

Will leaving the EU save taxpayers money and mean more money for the NHS?

What will Brexit mean for British tourists booking holidays in the EU?

Will Brexit help or damage the environment?

Will Brexit mean that Europeans have to leave the UK?

What will Brexit mean for British expats in Europe?