Chaos at the ‘Stronger in Europe’ launch as Stuart Rose drops ‘quitters’ jibe

The launch of the Britain Stronger In Europe (BSE) campaign this morning was embarrassing and shambolic. Comments briefed out by Sir Stuart Rose, the ex-M&S chief who is chairing the BSE campaign, included a section about patriotism and labelled those campaigning for a Brexit as ‘quitters’:

‘Those who want us to leave Europe would risk our prosperity, threaten our safety and diminish our influence in the world. We know our economy would take a hit, we just don’t know how bad it would be. The Quitters cannot say how our diminished status would impact on our relationship with the US or China or the Commonwealth countries. Leaving Europe is taking leap into the dark. It’s just not worth the risk.’

But when the speech was actually delivered, the reference to  ‘quitters’ had mysteriously vanished. Although Sir Stuart made a quick exit before taking questions from the media, Paul Waugh of the Huffington Post asked Stronger In’s Will Straw about ‘quitters’, who suggested there was a last minute change:

Just asked Will Straw why Rose didn't use speech draft "quitters" line: "He edited the speech this morning + delivered it in his own words"

— Paul Waugh (@paulwaugh) October