Electioneering & misconduct in public office

• The district judge erred in issuing a summons against Boris Johnson for misconduct in public office for campaigning statements made before the June 2016 EU Referendum.

Elections invariably invoke strong passions as well as a rather creative approach to electioneering. So when a defeated challenger once accused former Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza of ballot-rigging he was told that ‘You won the elections, but I won the count’.

In the UK passions certainly ran high before the EU referendum on 23 June 2016. Boris Johnson’s controversial ‘Vote Leave’ bus advert: ‘We send the EU £350m a week, let’s fund our NHS instead’, attracted widespread and impassioned outrage, particularly among Remain advocates. On the other side, the government leaflet circulated at public expense to every UK household warned that: ‘If the UK voted to leave the EU, the resulting economic shock would put pressure on the value of the pound, which would risk higher prices of some household goods and damage living standards.’

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