Grassroots Out (GO) was an organisation funded by

Arron Banks Arron Fraser Andrew Banks (born 1966) is a British businessman and political donor. He is the co-founder (with Richard Tice) of the Leave.EU campaign. Banks was previously one of the largest donors to the UK Independence Party (UKIP) and helped ...

that campaigned in favour of EU withdrawal in the 2016 referendum on EU membership in the United Kingdom. The organisation was formed in January 2016, as a result of infighting between

Vote Leave Vote Leave was a campaigning organisation that supported a "Leave" vote in the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum. On 13 April 2016 it was designated by the Electoral Commission as the official campaign in favour of leav ...

and

Leave.EU Leave.EU was a political campaign group that was first established to support the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union in the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, June 2016 referendum. Founded in July 2015 as ...

, and officially launched on 23 January 2016 in

Kettering Kettering is a market and industrial town in North Northamptonshire, England. It is located north of London and north-east of Northampton, west of the River Ise, a tributary of the River Nene. The name means "the place (or territory) of ...

. Despite its name, it was started by politicians from a mixture of political parties including

Peter Bone Peter William Bone (born 19 October 1952) is a British Conservative Party politician who served as Deputy Leader of the House of Commons in 2022. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Wellingborough since 2005. He campaigned for Brexi ...

Tom Pursglove Thomas Christopher John Pursglove (born 5 November 1988) is a British politician serving as Minister of State for Disabled People, Health and Work. He served as Minister of State for Immigration from September 2022 to October 2022. He served as ...

Liam Fox Liam Fox (born 22 September 1961) is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for International Trade from 2016 to 2019 and Secretary of State for Defence from 2010 to 2011. A member of the Conservative Party, Fox has served as t ...

of the

Conservatives Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

Kate Hoey Catharine Letitia Hoey, Baroness Hoey (born 21 June 1946), better known as Kate Hoey, is a Northern Irish politician and life peer who served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Home Affairs from 1998 to 1999 and Minister for Sport from 1999 t ...

of Labour,

Nigel Farage Nigel Paul Farage (; born 3 April 1964) is a British broadcaster and former politician who was Leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from 2006 to 2009 and 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Brexit Party (renamed Reform UK in 2021) from 2 ...

UKIP The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of Parliament and was the largest p ...

and Sammy Wilson of the DUP. The left wing

Respect Party The Respect Party was a left-wing to far-left, socialist political party active in the United Kingdom between 2004 and 2016. At the height of its success in 2007, the party had one Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons and nineteen ...

later joined Grassroots Out.

Campaign

GO came into being following a number of controversies within

, the original cross-party movement campaigning for Brexit, and infighting between Vote Leave and

. The current affairs magazine '' Private Eye'' said:

Although rassroots Outis little more than another Ukip front – with Farage at its launch and Ukip moneybags
Arron Banks Arron Fraser Andrew Banks (born 1966) is a British businessman and political donor. He is the co-founder (with Richard Tice) of the Leave.EU campaign. Banks was previously one of the largest donors to the UK Independence Party (UKIP) and helped ...
providing cash – Labour MP
Kate Hoey Catharine Letitia Hoey, Baroness Hoey (born 21 June 1946), better known as Kate Hoey, is a Northern Irish politician and life peer who served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Home Affairs from 1998 to 1999 and Minister for Sport from 1999 t ...
has signed up, so disillusioned are she and other Labour Euroscptics with Kurtz ominic Cummings, leader of Vote Leave

On 13 February 2016,

leader George Galloway interviewed UKIP leader Farage on '' Sputnik'', the show he presents for the Russian RT television network; Galloway and Farage agreed on everything that was discussed and Galloway expressed his commitment to joining GO. On 6 February 2016, the campaign expressed interest into seeking the

Electoral Commission An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...

designation for the official Leave campaign against Vote Leave and Leave.EU. Co founder of GO Tom Pursglove, said "If we are going to win this crucial referendum for the future of our country, it is imperative that the current impasse, which is serving as an enormous distraction, must come to an end and it seems that there is a growing mood that GO could well be the vehicle to achieve this – indeed, we have been approached by many people in many parties, enquiring as to whether this might be possible." On 16 February 2016, ''Go Movement Ltd'' (an umbrella group made up of Eurosceptics from GO, UKIP and Leave.EU – but not Vote Leave) announced that it would apply to the Electoral Commission to be designated as the official Leave campaign for the upcoming referendum. On 13 April 2016, rival organisation Vote Leave was designated by the Electoral Commission as the official referendum campaign in favour of leaving the EU. In response, GO said it would now work with Vote Leave to win the EU Referendum. However, the Head of Communications for Leave.EU, Andy Wigmore, said that Leave.EU would apply for a judicial review of the decision. He suggested that the referendum could be delayed until 23 October 2016 while the review took place.

Music and merchandise

GO has generated a great deal of debate with its brand promotions in support of the Brexit campaign. Many of these products were summarised by columnist Joel Golby for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

Comment is Free TheGuardian.com, formerly known as Guardian.co.uk and ''Guardian Unlimited'', is a British news and media website owned by the Guardian Media Group. It contains nearly all of the content of the newspapers ''The Guardian'' and ''The Observer'', ...

section. UKIP Parliamentary Candidate Mandy Boylett created a parody of the ''

Three Lions "Three Lions" is a song by the English comedians David Baddiel and Frank Skinner and the rock band the Lightning Seeds. It was released on 20 May 1996 to mark the England football team's participation in that year's UEFA European Championshi ...

'' anthem, which went viral in February 2016. Reviews ranged from "this anti EU music video parody is the worst song to come from UK politics yet" from Ryan Barrell in ''

The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

'' to "It's an astonishing watch, arguably better than the original and with the potential to inspire just as many ordinary Englanders to get out and support their country. Ish" from Guy Kelly in ''

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...

''.

David Baddiel David Lionel Baddiel (; born 28 May 1964) is an English comedian, presenter, screenwriter, and author. He is known for his work alongside Rob Newman in ''The Mary Whitehouse Experience'' and his comedy partnership with Frank Skinner. He has als ...

, who penned the original ''Three Lions'' anthem, described this version as "brilliantly naff". Marina Hyde in ''

'' suggested Boylett as the lead act in an anti EU music festival reportedly taking place in May. On 13 June 2016, Mandy Boylett launched a follow up Brexit song, penning new words to Pink's ''Get this party started''. The new song was immediately reported across the British Press and European press including the Daily Express, City AM and Global (Denmark)

References

{{United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, 2016 Euroscepticism in the United Kingdom 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum 2015 establishments in the United Kingdom Organizations established in 2015 Brexit–related advocacy groups in the United Kingdom Nigel Farage

Campaign

Music and merchandise

See also

References