Dominic Frisby, Comedian and Economist, thinks that the vote on Britain's withdrawal from the European Union was the first vote in a long time where something could actually be changed.
Sputnik: I want to talk about something that you've been quoted as saying. You said, "Brexit is the best thing to have happened to Britain." Now as someone who works in the arts, comedy and such, that's a stance that isn't the most common, is it?
Dominic Frisby: I would say 90% of artists are probably remainers, maybe 80%. I don't know. And those that are leavers tend to keep their politics to themselves. There's a gig just down the road from me where I live in London that I used to combat quite a bit, and they've just taken me off the roster since I came out in favour of Brexit. So people tend to keep their politics to themselves because it stops you getting work.
It's rather ironic because comedy, rather like the Edinburgh Fringe, is actually a very, very libertarian free-market kind of existence. And yet, they always want somebody to be in charge and everything to be directed and controlled. So, but yes, I do think Brexit is a fantastic thing to happen to Britain.
Sputnik: Why is that?
Dominic Frisby: The fact that it's basically caught the British establishment with its trousers down. And it's shown it up for the sham that it is. The Brexit vote was the first vote in goodness knows how long where something could actually be changed. Every other election I've ever known has just been the two different parties vying to occupy the middle. And if it's Blair, or it's Cameron, it's all pretty much peas of the same pod.
And here was an election that you could participate in, and could actually change something. And that's why it's ignited the public. And people have got so involved in it because here was direct democracy in action. And the great thing that it's done is it's shown the contempt that parliament has for the voters. It's revealed what contempt the establishment has for the people. And it's causing all sorts of change, we've got the Brexit party, that's risen up and it's forced the Tories to elect Boris Johnson, it's forced them to basically get Brexit done.
It could be an end to the two-party system in Britain. Our system of representative democracy was good for a bit. It's just horrendously out of date. I want to see us going into it with much more direct democracy. Should the BBC license fee be mandatory? Why is that not a referendum? Should drugs, should marijuana, be legal? No politician will stand for the legalisation of drugs, who stands a reasonable chance of being elected, the Lib Dems did but they knew that they would never get elected. It's such a thorny issue and it could prejudice their chance of getting elected - well do a referendum let the people decide!
Have the argument, do the referendum and then administer whatever the people want. There's a million! Should we change the voting system? Should we go to proportional representation or something else? I know they had a referendum about it a few years ago, but it was just brushed under the carpet. These are all things that need doing and we could have a proper referendum about it instead of this system of representative democracy. Where I live in Lewisham, my vote is meaningless in Lewisham because it's always going to be won by a Labour guy and it's actually a Labour lady. I don't agree with her politics. She doesn't represent what I think but if we have an actual referendum: My vote counts for something. A much better system of governance.
Sputnik: We have a portion representation system up in Scotland. And think what you want the Scottish Parliament, but people do feel a bit more represented. And you just see groups on the outside actually getting represented.
Dominic Frisby: I'm not necessarily arguing for Proportional Representation because it often ends up with Coalitions but at least it's transparent. The Conservative Party and Blair's Labour Party was effectively a coalition. And so was Cameron's Conservative Party. The centre of the Labour Party should ally with the centre of the Conservative Party and call themselves the Lib Dems. That's what should happen, because they're all closer in politics than the Corbyn socialist left in this sort of free market, classical liberal Tory, right. You know, that's where the party line should be. But they won't go for the Lib Dems because the Lib Dems don't get elected, so they stay in the Conservative Party. So the whole thing just gets corrupted.
Sputnik: You mentioned David Cameron and Tony Blair, they are two peas in the same pod. What about our new Prime Minister? Would you define him as the same pea in the pod as those gentlemen?
Dominic Frisby: Well, here's my little exclusive for you later today, it's going to be announced that I'm standing as a candidate for the Brexit party. So, you know, I shouldn't really be talking Boris Johnson up as a result. But you know, Boris Johnson wouldn't even be prime minister where it not for the Brexit party, because his MPs never wanted him. It's only when they're suddenly threatened with losing their seat that this has been forced. But you've got to say he's making all the right noises. So far, I don't approve of his huge spending pledges. But he's flexing his muscles and trying to make himself as popular as possible. But the main thing is he's trying to make sure that Brexit goes through by October the 31st. And so let's hope he does that.
Sputnik: You mentioned his spend in there. We've had some discussion on the show about Boris's Magic Money Tree. That's why it's defined by some of our listeners and some of our panellists. Where's this money coming from? Especially when he proposes a tax cut in the same breath.
Dominic Frisby: Yeah, I'm not actually sure. One of the bizarre things about tax cuts is low rates of tax often lead to greater revenues because people are less likely to avoid it. The economy does better with lower taxes and so there's actually more money. So it's better to have 30% of 100 than it is to have 40% of 60 if that makes sense.
You know, that takes us several years down the road. And so the answer to your question is I don't know where all this money is coming from, but I imagine they'll borrow a lot. They won't meet the pledges that George Osborne made to reduce the deficit. The deficit will increase and that will cause more borrowing and that will cause more inflation. And the other thing they'll probably do is they'll probably print it. You know, there'll be some new announcement for more quantitative easing or something. And this new money, MMT, Modern Monetary Theory, will all come into play in some way. But it's not. It's not the actions of a prudent conservative. Let's put it that way.
Sputnik: Finally I just want to ask on the first of November this year, will we be out of the European Union?
Dominic Frisby: It looks like it and if we're not, then the Conservative Party is finished.
Views and opinions, expressed in the article are those of Dominic Frisby and do not necessarily reflect those of Sputnik.