See on the news this morning?
About those missing kids?
We're not the only ones looking.
There's a ticking clock.
-♪ (SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYS) ♪ -(CLOCK TICKS)
The parts of our lives are pieces.
Those kids, my kids, my wife.
-♪ (MUSIC INTENSIFIES) ♪ -(TICKING INTENSIFIES)
WAYNE HAYS: This case is all I can think of.
And it keeps coming back.
( music playing )
Britain makes a noise. An actual noise.
- Did you know that? - Woman: I feel I should almost apologize.
It says here you... basically ran the Leave campaign,
and yet...
And yet,
I doubt most people have ever heard of you.
It groans.
It's been groaning for some time.
Must be annoying, old Boris getting all the credit.
Oh, I don't seek the limelight.
Dominic Cummings: A hum that only very few people can hear,
never stopping.
Woman: Mr. Cummings,
this inquiry was established
by the Information Commissioner's Office
following revelations concerning
the European Referendum four years ago, in 2016.
Its primary purpose is to investigate
the use of our personal data in political campaigns,
and the way in which it is rapidly altering
democratic processes here...
Cummings: A million important questions
to be asked of our nation,
our species, our planet,
and no one's asking the right ones.
Man: I mean, we're an education think tank primarily,
and, uh, well, you were once special advisor
to the education secretary, so...
Your reputation precedes you,
although we'll try not to believe everything we hear.
( men chuckling )
All I hear is noise.
Do you have any thoughts?
Cummings: Yeah, it's fucked. We're all fucked.
What are your thoughts on providing strategy for our many clients?
Cummings: Be polite, engaged.
Don't tell them what you're really thinking.
So... what do you think?
What do I think?
Cummings: Just breathe.
And think of Mary.
Breathe.
I think...
- Dominic? - What do you think?
Cummings: Breathe.
- I think... - Oh, shit.
Stupid.
You should advise your businesses that,
as a global society,
we are entering a series of profound economic,
cultural, social, political transitions
the like of which the world has never seen.
Educated people are the most stupid.
...massive increase in resource requirements...
We need an Odyssean education...
...rising tide of religious extremism...
...the synthesis of...
...the generational inequalities
in the West on an historic level...
...Apollonian rationality and Dionysian intuition.
I would tell them that, for the past years,
decades even, this firm has failed...
to prepare any of them for any of it.
Bill Dodd: Because of course it's not like
as if the U.K.'s experienced anything like Brexit before.
Brexit will never be a win-win.
The course that Brexit will take...
- ...of our approach to Brexit. - No-deal Brexit.
We live in a multiverse of differing branches of history.
Brexit... Brexit... Brexit... Brexit... Brexit.
Woman: My question is, do you consider your campaign
to have acted within accordance of British law?
And in a different branch of history,
I was never here,
some of you voted differently, and this never happened.
But I was.
And it did.
Everyone knows who won...
but not everyone knows how.
( "Ode to Joy" by Beethoven playing )
Vintage Narrator: The battle of the Continent
becomes Europe's total war.
Vintage Narrator #2: In Amsterdam,
Churchill proclaimed the need for a united Europe.
Announcer: General De Gaulle said non
to Britain joining the Common Market.
Announcer #2: People can work without restriction
in any of the six countries.
A particular problem is the price of food.
Vintage Narrator: Our entry into the EEC
will make Europe the most powerful trading bloc in the world.
Edward Heath: We have our moment of opportunity,
the chance of new greatness.
Now we must take it.
Margaret Thatcher: A splendid
and decisive yes for Britain in Europe.
I don't know what I'm voting for.
I don't really see what good it's going to do us.
We are asking for our own money back.
We have not rolled back the frontiers of the state
only to see them reimposed at a European level.
( "Ode to Joy" continues )
...suspending membership in the Exchange-Rate Mechanism.
I will now form a majority Conservative government.
Tomorrow, I will commence the process
to hold a referendum on Britain's membership
of the European Union.
( "Ode to Joy" continues )
( low ) Sorry to mobilize you so quickly.
( low ) Oh, no. It's what the WhatsApp Group is for.
"Avengers assemble." ( chuckles )
I-I don't really know what that is.
But, um, the past few years,
a band of rebels has been meeting here regularly,
away from, um, you know...
It's very, um,
Tinker, Tailor.
Well, it worked.
We roused enough of the rabble
to force Cameron's hand on a referendum
should he win the election--
obviously not expecting to win outright.
Well, he has.
( quiet whisper ) So it's happening.
We are about to ask the biggest question
the nation has asked itself in a generation,
perhaps all generations:
in or out?
And we need a leader.
( quiet whisper ) Not me.
Things are going to get pretty nasty.
I can organize from the back.
I-I can't lead an army.
You need an attack dog for that.
I have an idea.
It is risky, though.
He's different.
( doorbell rings )
( Cummings complaining )
If you want to be a dog-kebab,
keep barking!
( dog barking )
Dom!
- Hi. - Hello.
Can we, um... can we have a chat?
Uh, yeah, sure.
Why don't you come in?
Douglas Carswell.
Douglas. Hello. Hello.
Elliot: So. ( chuckles )
What have you been up to the past few...
- months? - Two years.
- Is it? - Yeah. Chucked it all in.
Went to live on my dad's farm.
Did a little bit of work...
and meditated.
Wrote a lot. Read.
Thucydides, Kipling, Tolstoy.
Right.
So... Dom...
...what we're looking for is--
Unh-unh. No way. Promised myself
I'd never set foot in Westminster again.
You can run this however you--
( scoffs ) Setting up a campaign
is like setting up a multi-million pound start-up,
except you're warning investors there's nothing to sell
and no profit to be made from it.
In other words, it's a fucking nightmare.
Just-- leave those investors to me,
because I can leave strategy, for the most part, to you.
No.
Dominic.
All your life you've been promised
people would listen to your ideas.
And time and time again,
the establishment got scared.
They betrayed you.
Here's your chance to really change things like never before.
( clicks tongue )
- ( exhales ) - Elliot: It's OK.
- You can take your time. - Oh. Of course.
Except we don't have any.
We need to be the first out the gate.
Before the pro-EU side, you mean?
I'm talking about our own side.
You do know who Arron Banks is?
( laughter, chatter in distance )
Carswell: I know UKIP might give off this blokey, jokey vibe,
but I'm afraid a lot of their views are, well, nothing to laugh about.
If these right-wing thugs try and run the "out" campaign, they'll kill it.
We need a more respectable alternative.
( helicopter flying over )
No, no, no, no!
- ( Banks laughing ) - You mad bugger! You mad bugger!
( both laughing )
Ah, how are ya?
Ahh, I'm knackered.
- Sorry, Arron. - I can't be angry at you.
Come on. Let's have a drink.
Farage: I dunno.
Seven tries at winning a seat,
and seven losses.
And now the party, too.
Stitch-up arseholes, all of them.
I'd put my fist down their throat
and tear out their spine-- only they don't have one.
- ( Farage chuckles ) - Stay. Lead.
I said I'd resign.
People come back from the dead all the time.
Look at... Jesus.
He only came back twice. It'd be my third.
But, you know, if...
...if I were to, then--
I'm-- I'm sorry to have to ask this, Arron, but--
You want more money.
- ( pop music playing in distance ) - ( laughing )
- He's back! I knew it! - Well. ( laughs )
Now look, this referendum,
i-it's gonna be a Tory-led Westminster operation
with us lot being edged out-- me!--
and I've been, my whole bloody life,
fighting for this, and I can't let that happen!
And I won't.
All right. All right.
( sighs )
- Let's gate-crash. - What?
- Let's make a right bloody mess! - Ohh! Ow!
( laughing )
- Freedom! - Hey-hey-hey-hey, oh, yeah!
( both laughing )
( door opens )
( switch clicking )
( lights pinging )
( Carswell talking in distance )
( talking, indistinct )
- Hi. Hi. - Victoria.
- Good morning. - Morning.
- Douglas Carswell. - I'm Victoria Woodcock.
( chatter continues, indistinct )
Hannan: Douglas, Matthew,
when shall we three meet again?
Carswell: And speaking of...
We'll have the entire apparatus of the British state against us.
They'll have the endorsement of all the major political parties.
With their database of 40 million voters:
who they are, where they are.
Elliot: Which we'll have no access to.
We'll have to start from scratch.
They'll get to set the timetable,
- frame the entire debate... - I know.
I need total autonomy on the overarching philosophy.
- I did picture a more collaborative-- - Absolutely.
We'll work out the details.
Let's get started.
( chuckling )
Cummings: How to change the course of history,
lesson one.
Kill conventional wisdom.
Napoleon. Otto von Bismarck.
Pay attention, Douglas. Alexander the Great.
This is where we draw our wisdom from, the true disrupters of Europe.
Socrates, Sun-Tzu, Chairman Mao.
Woodcock: That's all very well,
first, we need to win designation.
Only one group gets to campaign as the official "in," one as the official "out."
- Then we test our messages with focus groups. - I've already done it.
What is it you don't like about European Union? Is it the size of it?
What is it you don't like about the EU? What is it you don't like?
What about it? The fact that it's over there?
Do you know who your MEP is? Do you know what an MEP does?
- Didn't know you had an MEP? - You can't just go to a pub, Dom.
There's a science to it.
What about immigration?
- Is it immigration? - Is it immigration?
You can be honest. Is it immigration?
What about immigration? Is it race?
Is it different races not mixing?
Is it race? Not being integrated?
People are feeling angrier,
left out, ignored. What else?
Don't think our kids will have a better future than us.
Children... legacy...
Do you think there should be a cap on immigration?
- Is it the numbers?] - You think it's too many, too?
We spend more time than ever online, but we feel more alone.
- Cummings: Ain't that the truth, Douglas? - Uh, er...
Is it the type of people they're bringing over?
- Think it's too many? - What's too many for you?
You don't believe the numbers?
Think they're not being counted properly?
You don't feel you can trust the figures?
We're not getting married as much.
Less of us have faith.
We're not saving as much.
Trust less the institutions
and people our parents trusted.
Except the NHS, which we love.
But think it's fundamentally fucked.
National Health Service.
- Which countries don't you like that have already joined? - ...that have joined already?
- Why not? - Why not?
Why not?
And who don't you want to join next?
Who don't you want to join next?
Wh-Why don't you want--
- Why? - Why?
Why not?
Why? Why don't you? Turkey.
- So it was... - America, '92.
Campaign that changed all campaigns.
First of Four Fundamentals to win, Vicks?
- Um... - Hello?
"Message... discipline."
Lost of national identity. Clear...
- Is it sovereignty? - ...digestible...
- Loss of community. - ...support.
- Independence? - Message repeated
over and over...
and over.
How did we get into this?
( whispers ) What's our message?
What is our message?
What's our message?
Can't just be a slogan. We need to capture a feeling.
What's the feeling?
My father used to work on a rig. Oil.
( rain pattering on window )
All those pockets of energy, hidden...
deep down in the earth,
built up over long periods of time.
Groaning, moaning...
waiting for a release, an outlet.
All he had to do was find out where they were,
and start digging down...
open up the well and let the pressure out.
We can tap into all these little wells of resentment,
all these little pressures that have been building up,
ignored over time.
We can make this about something more then Europe.
Europe just becomes a symbol.
A cipher. For everything.
Every bad thing that is happening; has happened.
It's brilliant.
"Take...
control."
I like it. Simple. Clear.
Empowering.
- Brilliant. - Mm.
Carswell: Let's get it out there.
Maybe. I dunno. Maybe.
Hannan: We should start sounding it out
- with our growing band of MPs. - Why?
- Their experience in this is invaluable. - We don't need them.
We're gonna be making decisions based on science and data,
no matter how counterintuitive
to traditional political thinking.
No advertisers, no snake oil salesmen, no fucking Saatchis.
We're gonna follow algorithmic statistical analysis.
We don't need to put up with any prima donna MPs.
- Understood? - Victoria: Sure. - Carswell: Sounds good.
We need to make sure they're onside. They are the face of politics,
and don't we want as broad a coalition as possible?
Also, Dom, I have invited... a couple of them onto the board.
Cummings: A "board"?
Ugh. I'll say.
Bored to death.
A boring board game of players
who should not be allowed to pass Go.
Cummings: These so-called political rebels
who, for 20 years of failing the Euroskeptic cause,
are still gonna sit here and lecture me on how best to win this war. You watch.
We wanted to share with you
some of our experience of spearheading this movement
long before-- well, before you came along.
That'd be great.
We'd love to hear your ideas for the ground war.
Well, I'm more concerned with the air war, actually-- digital, social media.
You mean the Facebook and things.
- Yep. - I can see you're into
all this newfangled tech stuff, Dominic,
and I'm sure that has a place, but the first step must be
reaching voters direct.
Old-school. Doorsteps.
Stalls in market squares. Posters.
And for that, you need the MPs,
as many on our side as opposed to theirs.
They have the local knowledge.
Our focus will be on building a digital system
that will provide us with the empirical evidence
we need to understand who our voters are
and what they want to hear.
I knew it. I warned you.
I think what Dom means--
Mills: Some of us have been waiting a lifetime to get to this point.
Not to have it ruined by some... geeky anarchist
who wants to show off.
( scoffs ) I just want to get us over the line.
Something that MPs have failed to do since this movement began
- over 40 years ago. - Excuse me.
With respect, this referendum is a really dumb idea.
- What? - I think what we're emphasizing here--
Referendums are quite literally the worst way to decide anything.
- Elliot: Dom-- - They're divisive. They pretend
that complex choices are simple binaries, red or blue, black or white,
and we know there are more nuanced and sophisticated ways out there
to make political change and reform.
Not that we live in a nuanced or political age, do we?
Political discourse has become utterly moronic
thanks to the morons who run it.
- Really-- - But there it is.
If that is the way that it is to be,
then I will get us across the line
in whatever way I can. But in order to do that,
we have to restack the odds in our favor.
- We have to hack the political system. - Hack it?
Like a cyber-hack. Get in through the back door.
Reprogram the system so it starts working for us.
You're all talking about posters and flyers--
I'm talking about altering the matrix of politics.
Elliot: Dominic, for the love of God,
you need to learn to be a little more--
I don't suffer fools, therefore I won't suffer 90% of politicians.
Frankly, I don't see the point in them--
What the fuck?
Dominic, I'm so sorry, they just barged their way in.
I'll leave you to it.
Farage: So, chaps,
why the bloody hell aren't we working together?
Hmm? Your campaign, our campaign, as one-- unstoppable.
I've got call centers, I've got money,
9 million quid I've donated before the spending ceiling kicks in, which I think
is the largest donation in British political history. Is that right, Nige?
Farage: Yeah, that's right, Arron.
And what have you got?
Experience, expertise,
contacts in Parliament, of course, the MPs.
Banks: MPs are useless. Fuck the MPs.
Farage: Everything you've been briefing on so far,
and not one mention of immigration.
That's on purpose. We don't want to bring--
Don't come over all bleeding bloody hearts, it's bollocks!
You know, you turn up for five minutes,
and you think you know the lot.
Well, I have been fighting for this my whole life.
And I know what lands.
People already know what they think about immigration.
The people we're trying to win over, the people we need to win,
extend beyond UKIP.
Oh. So you don't want to make the bien pensants
sitting around your London dinner table uncomfortable?
We don't need 'em! We need normal people!
We need 50% of the entire country plus one.
Second fundamental of running a successful campaign:
build a broad coalition of voters. And for that, you need to be respectable.
- No offense. - Banks: 'Scuse me.
Let me tell you who we're up against,
who are setting themselves up over the river to destroy us.
Lucy Thomas, ex-producer of BBC's Newsnight program,
so she'll know how to handle the press.
Director of the campaign, Will Straw, son of Jack,
failed his MP race in 2015, typical establishment thinker:
"If it didn't work first time, try it again."
You got Ryan Coetzee, director of strategy,
he's Nick Clegg's former special advisor.
Labour and Lib Dem hate each other post-coalition.
- That won't work! - Oh, yeah, no,
it's a proper left and center-left love-in.
You've got the Greens and the Welsh. But none as interesting as these.
The one true enemy they both share...
- Tories. - The Number Ten machine,
headed up by-- trumpets, please-
( blows raspberry ) Craig Oliver.
Cameron's communication director.
Position held, as we know, by a long succession of bastards--
Campbell, Coulsen.
This one's more out of the limelight,
ostensibly in control and composed.
He's furiously loyal to his boss,
and I can tell you that we, uh--
well, we have a little history.
Dominic Cummings is basically mental.
We had to all but ban him from Number Ten.
He's desperate to be seen as this visionary architect
of a New World Order, but actually,
he's just an egotist with a wrecking ball.
It does, however, mean that he's...
well, he's unpredictable.
I know how to beat Oliver.
Conventional wisdom is a disease
that the British are peculiarly susceptible to,
and he certainly hasn't been inoculated.
I want to be up front.
The PM isn't entirely sure why all this shouldn't be run by, and out of, Number Ten.
I'm sure you don't mean to imply that you're here to give us the once-over,
check us out?
No, that's exactly what I meant.
Andrew Cooper. Our chief pollster.
- Hello. - Our lead strategist on the Scottish independence ref,
- which we won. - Just.
Which we won, despite those final polls.
And the general election, which we also won. Ditto.
So take comfort in that we do actually know how to win things,
which present company, politely and respectfully...
Look...
we know there are historic divides between us all.
But without getting all Hollywood about
coming together for the greater good,
that is basically what we're gonna have to do.
I'm not saying let's have a circle-jerk--
- Circle what? - Jesus.
But this is about as serious as it gets.
There's the danger, which we saw in Scotland,
of having unleashed something...
which we can't then control.
Banks: An establishment enemy
needs a people's army to thrash them.
You need Nigel.
He should front the TV debates, do the rallies--
We will be guided by data and polling.
Nigel may be an asset, maybe not.
We'll see. Nothing personal.
Banks: Aw, fuck this.
It's a fucking waste of space!
Christ.
( sighs )
That's a lot of money walking out of the door.
That is a mathematical paradox walking out the door.
Every time that Nigel Farage's popularity increases nationwide,
the support for Brexit decreases nationwide.
Puts everyone else off. So, no.
But they'll be out there anyway, gobbing off.
Wouldn't it be better to have them pissing out of the tent, rather than pissing in?
If we can control their rhetoric on--
( keys clacking )
Oh, unless we get them to do the heavy lifting on the migration stuff...
and then we can keep our hands clean.
That is a dangerous game, Dom.
They're gonna do what they're gonna do-- we'll do what we do.
- Parky! Where we at?! - ( door closes )
- Morning, John. - ( Mills mumbles )
How do.
I wasn't aware you were a member.
I just joined. What are the odds?
Would you like any assistance with your hair? Or just general--
No, no, no. Fine, thanks.
Unless you can help it grow back.
Why do you think your lot will get the designation over Farage?
He's the face of the anti-EU cause.
But their arguments will only reach a narrow base,
whereas ours, we hope will reach everyone.
Banks: How are you getting on?
- Your side. - We shouldn't be talking.
Oh, don't be a dick, John.
Why the hell are there two competing "out" teams,
both fighting for the same donors, MPs? It makes no bloody sense.
We should join together.
Cummings would never allow that.
- Why not? - He hates you.
Interviewer: What are your expectations, realistically?
Ideally, it would be to create the biggest political upset the world's seen
since the fall of the Berlin Wall.
( camera shutters click )
Interviewer: So what does your campaign look like?
I'd like to think it looks like an insurgence
against the establishment.
( pulse rate monitor beeping )
You're not looking to be more collegiate, respectful than that?
Why? It's a fucking war. Total war.
In total war, there's only one side left standing.
You'd be fine about bringing down the Prime Minister?
He deserves to be brought down. Prime Minister's crap.
Are you reading this? I don't mind him having the odd bit of publicity,
but hell's fucking bells, he attacked the PM!
Does he not know there are things you do not do?!
Does he always have to be so--
you know...
- himself?! - ( beeping faster )
( low chatter )
( telephone ringing )
- Hello? - Hannan: Matthew?
It's Dan. We need to talk about Dom.
( no audible dialogue )
( bicycle bell rings )
( children laughing in distance )
Man: Dominic.
Zack Massingham. Aggregate IQ.
I was pleased to get your message.
We've been trying to get in touch with you, actually.
Really?
You were surprisingly hard to find online
for an online analytics company.
Not really in the business of advertising what we do.
Which is what? Just so that I'm absolutely sure it's what I need.
Technically, we use sophisticated algorithms
to micro-target populations in political campaigns.
The other side has a voter database that I don't have access to,
and I need to build my own, find voters,
and target them with our ads.
We're becoming a little more sophisticated than that now.
Arron...
this is Robert Mercer.
An old family friend,
and an investor in, well, all of this.
Nigel, good to see you again.
Mercer: London was always going to be a key front
in our cultural war against the political class.
Feels like something's coming, doesn't it?
Banks: Fuck, I hope so.
I should introduce you to Steve.
Steve Bannon. Chairman of Breitbart.
He's also on the board of one of my other little projects.
A data mining company- election specialists combined.
It's new.
Just been working on Ted Cruz's campaign.
When we began, he was only polling 3%.
We got him up into the 40s-- an unprecedented leap.
Simply through behavioral micro-targeting--
finding where the voters you can convert are
and knowing the messages that will convert 'em.
( chuckles )
Silicon Valley, eh?
- It's my kind of people. - No, no, no.
They're Brits. Cambridge Analytica.
And beyond.
...went to a refugee camp in Lebanon,
and he said, "You must understand
that 2% of these people are Jihadi activists."
Now, that's the truth.
Mercer: Money is one thing, Mr. Banks,
but data is power.
You see, this is all just beginning.
Massingham: Technology's moved beyond
"You like this, so you might like that."
Internet algorithms learn about our behavior,
our psychology, even, our emotional state.
These social media platforms know what questions we're asking,
what keeps us awake at night, when we sleep, where we go,
who we go there with,
and therefore the system can make predictions.
And does.
Embarrassingly accurate ones.
Such as?
OK, so, like...
Facebook knows when you're falling out of love with your partner.
Yeah.
It didn't mean to discover it, wasn't its intention,
but two billion people constantly inputting
into the database a dozen times a day?
Patterns form. Behaviors overlap.
So what, it just... targets or micro-targets your message, that's all?
Not just all.
See, what it means
is that we can design and distribute
thousands of different adverts that vary,
depending on who we're sending them to.
So your timeline will be slightly different
to your friend's, your mum's, and so on.
And our software can test how effective certain ads are on certain people
in terms of liking, clicking, sharing,
and then learn how to adapt them, to improve them.
In real time.
In real time?
Mm-hmm.
What's in it for you?
Truthfully...
our problem is that...
we haven't found a large enough test case yet
to understand this technology's effectiveness.
A decent sample size.
So we're just a trial, is that all?
What, British democracy is a lab experiment for a greater prize?
Blanket advertising's dead.
We're updating and uploading all the time, by choice.
Teaching data companies and advertisers
exactly who we are and what we want.
Look, it was Obama who led the way on this-- a liberal.
It's not about right versus left-- it's about old versus new.
- ( laptop keys clacking ) - ( children laughing )
This is the new politics, Dom.
This... is how you will win.
- ( knock on door ) - It was entirely made of rubber.
( laughs )
Jenkins: Hello there. Come in.
- Elliot: How are you? - Nice to see you.
- Elliot: John. - You can sit over there.
- Tea? - Oh, yes, please.
- Milk? Sugar? - Uh, spot of milk.
It's not just his me-me-me-ness, Matthew.
Fact is, his personality alienates people.
Jenkin: David Cameron called him a "career sociopath."
D'you know, when he visits various Whitehall departments,
he signs in as "Osama bin Laden"
just for the sheer-- I don't know.
He's just-- He's so--
- He's so annoying. - Inappropriate.
Yes, yes, he is. Annoying.
Do you know, Andy Coulsen,
the bloke in jail for phone hacking,
he thought Cummings was too toxic to win broad support,
Andy Coulsen!
I know Dom can be, uh, unconventional,
but there is no one better to rally the troops.
You, Matthew.
It has to be you.
Massingham: You're only talking about locating people
that the other side already have in a government database.
You're thinking way too small.
No one's ever accused me of that before.
What about those who are off the grid and don't vote?
Social media platforms are designed to find like-minded people
better than people can.
Our system will locate and target people
that no campaign has ever targeted before--
people who don't and have never voted.
Anti-establishment, angry-- your people.
Dominic, we have already started to find them.
Three million extra votes--
- Fuck off. - All of them yours
that the other side have no idea exist.
Where's Matt?
( phone ringing )
- Hello? - Mills: Cummings.
- Yeah? - It's John Mills.
Wonder if you might come over.
The board would like a word.
( sighs )
Cash: Would you take a seat, Dom?
I'm very busy. What is it?
Jenkin: Dom, I'm afraid we on the board
have lost confidence in you.
You've pissed off just about every MP
that's been trying desperately
to support us rather than that other UKIP lot.
And you seem to flout about TV
and the front pages of magazines
primping up controversy--
Thank you, Bernard.
Look, what I think we can all agree on
is that the in-fighting has to stop.
And if that means changes to the structure of the campaign--
Basically we'd like to offer you a lot of money
just to quietly step to one side.
Stay on as a consultant,
and let others take more of a lead.
- And Matthew? - This is the decision of the board.
Cummings: They're scared. This is rushed, poorly planned.
What do you think'll happen to my senior staff over the river?
- What do you mean? - They'll walk.
It's your patriotic duty to tell them not to, Dom.
They'll do what they want to do, Dan,
because they are intelligent people.
Unlike you and Matthew, they know how to run a campaign.
You will lose your campaign machine
and you will lose your designation.
Well, what do you suggest we do about that, hmm?
You don't know what you're doing, do you? Any of you.
( laughing ) This is embarrassing.
You've committed the classic cardinal sin of any failed coup--
you didn't secure the support of your military first
and you didn't seize the state broadcaster.
- ( texting ) - What are you doing?
Cummings: In about 30 seconds,
you will start receiving notifications
from the WhatsApp group-- staff resigning.
Ohh, no, no, w-wait a minute, Dom.
Hell's fuckin bells! We-- This is a private meeting!
- You can't just-- - Just did.
( phones all buzzing, chiming )
Could we all just stay calm and not--
- I'm calm. - ( Cash stammering )
Cash: It's not just your attitude.
It's the strategy you're putting together.
Where's immigration? Where's the bloated bureaucracy?
The supranational institutions--
That's too nebulous, too complicated, it's too remote.
This campaign is gonna be about costs and control-- that's it.
We know whereof we speak, Dom.
No, you don't. You're wrong, wrong,
wrong, wrong, wrong!
How it costs, and regaining control!
Costs and control!
Costs and control! Get it?!
See? This is what we have to deal with.
And while I'm at it,
when we gain the designation,
and the £7 million spending limit,
I would like to spend £3.9 million of that online.
( laughing ) You're treating this like it's a game, Dom!
- Your private plaything! - We have this contract for you to sign.
- Just look it over, and-- - No.
But-- there's--
We have lawyers waiting next door--
Not lawyers! Oh, fuck!
If you don't like the way I'm running the campaign,
- you can leave. - Cash: Us?
But-- No, this is about you leaving.
Well, I'm not, so you can go.
Elliot: I think perhaps a compromise.
Dom, you don't like dealing with MPs,
they clearly don't like you,
I'm happy to do that from now on.
And if we could just be a little more, um, discreet
with our tweetings and our utterances,
I-I think that could help.
That-- That would be a help, yes.
And if you would be willing to share the strategy side with us, Dom--
No. No. Complete independence or nothing.
Well, then, you can't be on the board,
because the board will need to hold you to account.
Fine! Then I think we need a new chair
if things are changing on the board.
A fresh start.
Cummings: Right.
( phone buzzing )
- So, is he gone? - He didn't go.
- Stop it. - I did.
Fuck off!
What? How?
I'm not sure.
( disconnects )
( mouths word )
C-Continue.
Continue.
Hiya.
Fuck.
Why don't people like me?
Oh...
I like you.
Come here.
( grunts )
Well, at least they will remember you.
That's something.
He's kicking.
Like his dad.
Mmm.
That was corny.
( chuckles )
A very good evening to you, and welcome to BBC News.
Vote Leave and Britain Stronger in Europe have been designated
the official Leave and Remain campaigns in the EU Referendum.
All: ...two, one...
( all cheering )
( cheers, applause )
News Anchor: And we're off! The ten-week countdown
to the referendum has begun in earnest with the designation
of the two campaigns.
Stronger In, backed by the Prime Minister,
Jeremy Corbyn, and almost all mainstream parties.
On the Leave side, Vote Leave,
which contains six cabinet ministers
and 140 conservative parliamentarians.
Carswell: Vote Leave, everyone!
Vote Leave!
( laughter, applause )
News Interviewer: What were your thoughts
when these decisions were announced?
Female Interviewee: There have been real divisions...
Fuck 'em.
...campaigning for the UK to leave.
Now we're free from any constraints, do what we like.
It's more fun being the outsiders.
Interviewee: ...campaign to leave the EU.
Well, he was on the losing side today.
Turn it off.
...campaign with some others
because he says he thinks the issue of immigration is--
( sighs )
We also know the other side are gonna run a campaign
the way that campaigns have been run
for pretty much the last 70 years.
They're gonna fight from the center,
make it about jobs and the economy.
We focus on the economy and jobs.
The message: Leaving risks both.
Clinton '92. Best campaign ever. "It's the economy, stupid."
You define your opponent as the riskier option,
and though the change candidate might initially poll well,
come election day, the nerves kick in,
voters revert back to center.
Law of political science.
If the status quo are ahead before the campaign begins,
which we are, they always win on the day. So..
So what's our answer?
Tzu's "The Art of War."
If we fight them on home terrain,
they will win.
So what we need to do is lead them to ninth battlefield,
the deadly ground where no one expects to find themselves.
Outcome: they perish.
Which means?
You reverse the proposition.
We make them the risky option.
To stay is to risk losing more of the things we cherish.
We're asking voters not to reject the status quo,
but to return to it-- to independence.
How much does it cost us each week to be members of the EU?
- In the region of about-- - Our researcher's name? - Richard.
Ricardo, will you get me all the figures up for how much it costs
to be members of the EU for a week?
- Largest one wins. - Elliot: Make sure it's verifiable!
Lucy Thomas: Focus groups.
Finding out who we are, and what do we like.
So we can segment and target.
First, the easiest.
We have the Ardent Internationalist.
Eleven percent of the voting population--
support gay marriage, degree-educated,
going to vote Stay no matter what.
Then the other end: the EU Hostiles.
Facilitator: Hello there. I'm Jude...
Similarly, eleven percent.
- Won't you take a seat? - Generally retired,
mortgage-free, and 98% white.
Won't change either.
Cooper: And then we have our Comfortable Europhiles.
Own their own home, gets their news from the BBC,
most probably Remain.
And our Strong Skeptics...
- I'm leading the session. - Steve.
Hi, Steve.
C2DEs. Generally 55-plus,
"O" levels and no higher, most probably Leave.
It's not rocket science, it's simple. There are three types of voter.
Those certain to vote to exit, that's one-third,
they're in the bag, so ignore them,
those certain to stay, that's another third,
we can't touch them, so fuck 'em.
The last third, "I would like to leave,
but I'm worried about what the effect will be to jobs and living standards."
These are the only people that we need to care about.
And trust me, the others will be after exactly the same bunch.
Now, these are who will decide the result.
The "Hearts versus Heads," and the "Disengaged Middle."
Thirty-four percent of the electorate.
"Hearts versus Heads" are mainly female.
- Sandra Butcher. - Hi, Sandra.
Thomas: Get their news from Mail online.
Their heart says "leave" but their head is worried.
Disengaged Middles are generally renters,
get their news from Facebook.
- Shamara. - Hi, Shamara.
Would you put yourself over there?
Thomas: Most have never given any thought
to the EU whatsoever.
Jude: Who is very likely
to vote in the upcoming referendum?
Show of hands?
OK, good.
Um...Shamara,
are you likely, unlikely, very likely, or don't know?
( chuckles ) I'd say likely,
but I just need to get my head round--
"Don't know" for me.
Someone could convince me either way,
then "probably," but--
So, what do you think of when you think of the EU?
What does it do?
They make laws, uh, for each country.
Laws over there that overturn laws over here,
only they're not accountable.
Well, you do vote for them... MEPs.
- I don't. - Well... ( laughs )...
It's the courts.
It- Isn't it?
Um, they have, um, the human rights,
which-- I'm sorry, but things like
the terrorists you can't deport--
It's freedom of movement, isn't it? Goods and people.
That's what the old community was for, right?
No tariffs, free trade--
Old community was coal and steel,
and that's all it was meant to be.
Now it's got too big.
Not people. Not unlimited people.
That's not what they meant--
It's for peace, though, as well, isn't it?
After the war, to make sure nothing like that happens again.
Which is, I think, probably good? ( laughs )
Just to be, yam know, I'm not saying ' it's wrong,
people coming, different people,
it's just if we had, like, a point system--
- No, no, no. - Like Australia.
That undermines the whole thing.
( overlapping speech )
What's the issue that matters most then
when you're making your decision?
Is it what's best for the economy,
or is it control over immigration?
- The economy. Every time. - Immigration is not an issue...
I'd like to be able to study abroad.
We need to appeal to their heads-- numbers, projections.
We focus on the facts.
We need to appeal to their hearts.
Emotional resonance.
their hopes, their dreams,
Their aspirations, their fears.
Their suspicions.
Now, these persuadables, we need to learn about them,
love them, and lure them to our side.
There are more of them out there than we thought.
Cummings: Three million more of them out there than we thought.
That's three million potential voters
not on any voter database,
so Remain have no idea they exist.
If we can reach 'em, they're ours for the taking.
Elliot: Dom, what on earth are you talking about?
I want less than ten people on Earth...
to know what I'm about to tell you.
We're gonna build something.
By the way, if anyone asks.
just tell them you're a junior intern.
I'm serious. Nothing more than that.
- I'm in my thirties. - But you've got a youthful Californian complexion.
- Canadian. - Let me know if you need anything.
What do you think of it?
Eh...
- No. Not right. Send it back. - What?
Dom, we've printed thousands of those.
It's not ready! Burn 'em!
Hello. Sorry, Mr. Gove, sir.
It's, uh, Dom here.
I know you're tearing yourself up inside,
but I really need your answer.
Call me back.
( "Ode to Joy" being performed )
( music continues )
( performance ends, audience applauding )
( no audible dialogue )
Banks ( on TV ): "LEAVE.EU"
is the real grassroots party, OK?
And everyone should join us if we're gonna win.
Exactly. We're the original, and still the best.
Ultimately-- Look, I have a simple view on this,
just like I have a simple view on everything in life.
If you want to leave the EU, you're on our side--
even if you think you're on theirs.
- Farage: On the Remain side, you mean. - No, I mean Leave.
The other Leave--
( turns off TV )
( grunts softly )
( Scherzo from "Beethoven's Ninth" playing )
Cummings: To take something back
means it was-- is-- rightfully yours...
taken from you.
So much of our understanding of who we are
comes from this nostalgic view we have of our past--
these stories, these myths we tell each other.
Normally I hate them, they stop me from progressing,
but in this case, let's use it.
The idea that we want to return to a time
when we knew our place, when things made sense.
Fictional or not.
It's perfect.
Best start taking it back.
( soft chuckle )
( reporters clamoring )
Reporter 1: Michael. Michael.
David and Samantha Cameron are your close friends.
Does this not feel a bit like stabbing your leader in the front?
Um...
it-- well, you know, um--
Th--The fact is, if you must know,
I've been wrestling with this for weeks.
This was the most difficult decision of my political life.
But taking difficult decisions is what politicians are here to do.
Boris Johnson: Yes, yes, exactly.
It's-- It's easy, to, uh, easy to shirk them,
to, uh, to not upset the, uh applecart.
It's a perfectly legitimate way of playing devil's advocate...
- Who are all this lot? - Matthew's idea.
Different outreach groups operating independently.
Who's funding them? Who's-- Who's coordinating them?
I think they're meant to coordinate themselves, I dunno.
Rules are sketchy.
Reporter: But the versions of your column, Boris,
including the one you wrote in support of Remain?
Oh, look, now. It's--
It's as if none of you have ever written a-- a--
a pros and a cons list before, you know?
People do that when they're about to do something important, like,
uh, adopt a puppy or something?
Uh, thank you. Thank you. I think that's...
( all clamoring )
Well done. Well done.
Talking about the puppies.
Well, it's done now, so c'est la vie.
David said-- he said that if I get what I want and we win,
this will destroy him.
He's probably right.
It is a game-changer, so thank you.
All right, team, listen up.
Now the fight for Britain really does begin.
We have our star endorsements.
( all cheer and applaud )
And...
and we have our message.
If you look on the server,
you'll find copies of the war book.
Here's our message in a sheet,
here's our message in a paragraph,
here's our message in a sentence.
If you find a potential voter,
you hit him hard, and if it looks like
they're gonna bend, you don't just walk away,
pat yourself on the back,
you double down.
Hit him again and again, right?
With £350 million,
and Turkey--
350 million quid and Turkey. Again.
All: 350 million quid and Turkey.
- Again. - All: £350 million and Turkey.
Cummins: Again and again.
Show no mercy, all right?
Good! Yeah!
So go out there and do that.
Take Back Control!
( diesel engine roaring )
Cumming: Yep...ta-da!
Wait, wait, wait. That's the, uh--
- You're using the-- - We're combining the NHS
with the economy, with control.
But-- But the logo, that's--
That's the actual NHS logo.
Are we-- Are we allowed to just--
Imagine their faces. ( laughs )
If Jeremy Hunt wants to come down here and try and peel the label off himself,
he's more than welcome, we'll have the cameras ready.
( laughing, patting hands on bus )
Let's take back control!
( Cummings giggling )
Terrific! Absolutely!
It's marvelous.
It's got air-conditioning and everything.
- Three? - Million, yeah. Completely off the map,
rendering their current poll projections pointless.
Johnson: Holy moly! So you're saying
there's a cat in Lucifer's chance
we might actually win this thing?
Oh, yeah. Yeah.
We need to brief this. Get it out there.
A great big psychological boost to all those guys--
No, no. No. No. No briefing.
A polling lead for Remain makes them complacent,
means less voters turn out. We keep it hush-hush.
And you really don't have to raise your hand.
Oh, sorry.
I just wanted to ask who they were.
- Data scientists. - I'm a data scientist.
- They're technically physicists. - Blimey. Where are they from?
Prior to this they were working as analysts on the Hadron Collider.
And now you're here to tell us what housewives in Newport think?
- Bravo. - Cummings: Fanfare, please.
For the first time in a British election,
we've built some software that will combine
your Facebook and your Twitter with the electoral roll
and polling and canvassing, all in one database
- that can be updated and respond in real time. - Fabulous.
- Really? - I've no idea.
Woodcock: Here are some of the ads
we've been developing that are ready to test.
Look at this one for the Euro Championship.
Cummings: Football, not politics. It's brilliant!
Woodcock: A chance to earn 50 million quid
if you guess the result to every single game.
The odds to win are 6 trillion.
The point is that we can collect hundreds of thousands of contact details
to get people out to vote. It's like Twenty Questions--
with every click we know you better,
so our ads can target you better.
Gove: And this one?
I thought we weren't pushing immigration.
The software will tell us
what to push and what not to push, Michael.
To win. OK?
Massingham: Right.
Ready to launch?
( deep breath ) Yeah.
Johnson: Wh--What I will say,
uh, that these, uh-- it's obviously very important
we don't get mired in-- in personal politics
Oliver: This will just confirm that tomorrow
we will be going strong on manufacturing.
PM is in Derbyshire, meeting at the Toyota factory.
David Cameron: You have David Cameron on the line.
- It's Ian Duncan-Smith. - I'm calling on behalf
of the Vote Leave campaign.
Captain: All aboard for Britain remaining
in the European Union.
Gove: This should be
an amicable contest that's characterized
by mutual respect,
one that rises above personal attacks
and stays true to that great British tradition of fair play.
Nothing can dilute our enthusiasm.
Hello, madam. Vote Leave.
Hi there. EU Referendum.
Johnson: Let's raise the level of debate
and--and have a fair fight.
Um, yeah.
mouse clicking )
( groans )
Hey. So, don't get mad,
just as an experiment, I set up a fake youth Labour group
to campaign for Remain.
They're including us on their email list.
- ( whispers ) You are kidding me. - Not only that,
Craig Oliver does a conference call to volunteer groups
a couple of times a week, and we have the dial-in code.
So what do you reckon?
Dom did say double down.
( dial tones )
Automated menu: Please enter conference PIN.
( entering digits )
Oliver: ...the next thing is a heads-up on a press release...
And this is something that the data team are working on
called Spread the Word.
- ( phone ringing ) - Uh, sorry.
Mary, if I don't answer, it's because I can't, I'm at work--
All right, all right, slow down, slow down.
What?
Dr. Ahmed, please.
Second door on the right.
Thank God.
- Cummings: All right, darling? - Mary: Yes.
Dr. Ahmed :As I was saying to Ms. Wakefield,
the baby hasn't grown since the last scan.
This could be for a variety of reasons--
Just-- Just tell us what it means.
What does that mean?
You know? Cause? Effect?
Dom.
With intrauterine growth restriction,
it's very difficult to tell.
What we do is,
we measure the length of the spine
to see how well the baby is growing,
and according to our measurements,
your baby could be, um, less than twenty percent...
( hyperventilating )
( no audible scream )
...the fetus,
and, um, apart from waiting now,
there really is very little we can do.
( keyboard clacking )
( typing continues )
So this is where you... where you hide, is it?
( typing )
Do you mind if I pop in for a moment?
( locks door )
Gosh.
Um... uh, Dom, I...
- I heard about-- - The software's coming back with new voters.
Thousands of them.
We should get out there and test it.
Yes, but... ( sighs )... you-- you should, um...
feel free to take some time--
Let's go.
Carswell: Ah, I don't know this place.
Cummings: Well, it's in your constituency, Douglas.
You've just ignored it for years.
( seagulls calling )
Thank you, but I, um, what if-- what if--
My face is quite recognizable, maybe I should--
Look, either you believe in this, or you don't.
If you don't, get back in the fucking cab.
( doorbell rings )
( rings )
Hello.
- All right-- - Woman: What's he done now?
I don't understand. How did you find us? No one knocks on that door.
You're telling me that no other political parties
have knocked on your door during this referendum?
I'm saying no one from a political party has knocked on that door
since about the eighties.
( deep breath )
Could we persuade you to register today, do you think?
You can try.
Honestly, though, I don't trust any of ya.
You look familiar, though.
Well, the first thing we think leaving the EU will help, is jobs.
Haven't got a job. I never will again round here.
24 years as a steel worker all gone to shit.
- How ya gonna fix that? - That is one of the industries
that's been most affected by EU overregulation.
All of that red tape.
And cheap foreign labor that's undercutting your wages.
Oh, yeah, I know.
They work for nothing.
People like me, we get, like...
- We get squeezed out. - Yeah, we get squeezed out.
- It's not like I'm against them. - Wife: No!
But it has changed a lot round here, hasn't it?
All our neighbors have moved away, new people come in.
My kids have moved away too now.
Because there's nothin' here.
And I miss it.
I miss having-- having--
( sniffles ) Oh, you're gettin' me all upset now.
Sorry. We don't mean to pry.
Dominc: You want to feel back in control of your life.
Or the lives of the people you love.
( wife clears throat )
Perhaps we could... leave you with this?
Carswell: Now remember, it's not...
it's not a parliamentary election, it's a referendum...
where every vote counts.
And with your polling station...
- Cummings: The noise. - ...just round the corner...
It's getting louder.
Much louder.
What does it mean?
What's it trying to tell us?
Now, you are on the front page of the The Observer this morning,
warning that a million people may come here from Turkey
in the next eight years, which is strange,
because very few people expect Turkey to join the EU in the next eight years.
We-- I do not think
that the EU is going to, uh, keep Turkey out.
I think it is going to join, I think the migrant crisis--
What I'm asking of the world's oldest public broadcaster
is an understanding of the difference between impartiality and balance.
What I mean is that your nonsense bloody quota
of giving "equal coverage" no matter what
means that we put up a Nobel Prize-winning economist
to highlight the negative impact on sterling if we leave,
and then you feel you have to give equal weight
to some batty backbencher who's just there to parrot
"Not true! Project Fear! Take Back Control"!
Yes, well, it fuckin' better do. I look forward to it.
( Oliver scoffs )
Thomas: It's gonna be OK.
They've found a momentum, but we'll counter.
We just have to stop falling into their trap.
They say something utterly ludicrous,
like, "Turkey will join. We can't stop them."
Then we drop what we're doing to counter with the truth,
when what we're actually doing is just helping them
by spending the rest of the day saying, "Turkey, Turkey, Turkey" on the radio.
It's grenade after grenade.
They lob one over here-- bang!
We go over to put out the fire.
They lob one over there-- bang! Over we go!
It's guerilla warfare.
They can say literally anything they want with zero consequences
because they're not the government, whereas
we take a bloody millennia to sign off a sodding Twitter meme.
It's kind of genius in a way.
You know what? I'm beginning to lose patience with this common misconception
that Dominic Cummings' pseudo-intellectual bullshit
is anything other than... pseudo-intellectual bullshit.
Anyone can start a fire. He's not the Messiah!
He's a very naughty... fucking arsehole.
I took a leaf out of your book, didn't I?
- Yeah, what? - They tested the data.
It's fine. An anomaly.
- He's fine! - Oh, God...
( kissing )
- You sure? You sure? - Yes!
( kisses ) Oh, God.
( laughs )
News anchor: But this is a bank holiday,
we'll be talking about whether hedgehogs
could derail the government's plans for HS2.
BBC News is read by Zeb Soanes.
Soanes: Ministers have begun moves
to change tipping practices in bars and restaurants....
Why aren't we getting any pushback from this?
Why aren't journalists hounding us about it?
The metropolitan commentariat are not our target,
so they're not seeing our posts on their timeline.
So they have no idea what the rest of the country's seeing.
So no one's reporting it.
Feels dangerous, doesn't it?
( sighs )
Oliver: Girls!
This is the last time!
TV off, come and eat!
I've made you some... lovely supper.
OK, now, remember that Daddy has to speak very, very quickly to the Prime Minister,
so you and your friends are gonna eat really, really quietly...
- Girl: I don't like this. - and be good. Right? Right?
( dialing )
- ( phone ringing ) - Woman (on phone): Prime Minister is on.
- Hi, D.C. - Hi, it's Dave, how is everyone?
- Thomas: Hi, David. - Cooper: Andrew Cooper here.
The Labour MPs I have coming back from the doorsteps are spooked.
Our lines on jobs, the economy--
- voters don't wanna hear it. - I know. I can't--
Cameron: What are the polls telling us?
It's all over the place, it's like there's a gremlin in the machine.
But they seem to be cutting through to the undecideds.
Cameron: Do we have a strategy?
We have to have a response,
a positive argument... on immigration.
That's them leading us onto their turf. It's a trap.
Thomas: We can't ignore it anymore.
Something... is going wrong here.
Cameron: All right. Nothing to lose, I suppose,
apart from the European alliance
and even the United Kingdom itself.
Too soon?
( kids laughing )
( crowd cheering )
( cheers, applause )
Really good to see you. So good to see you. Thank you for coming out.
Cameron: I think we are better off in, I think we're stronger in,
I think we're safer in. Better off. Safer. Stronger.
- Let's take back control! - Take back control.
- Take back control.
We take back control of our money, our laws,
and, of course, our borders.
Thomas: Who thinks we should remain?
The IMF, the World Bank, the Bank of England...
...the real risk to Britain's economy.
A bomb under our economy.
The people of this country have had enough of experts...
- Man: It's just scaremongering. - Man 2: Project Fear.
- Scaremongering. - Project Fear.
It's government-sponsored fiction
claiming that Brexit will cost us £4,300.
Does Project Fear know no bounds?!
Cameron: Don't throw away your children's future.
Farage: The EU has made a fundamental mistake
which is affecting the security of all of us.
They swept across the continent.
( angry chanting )
The Leave campaign is now trying to stir up prejudice!
You might as well just hang up a sign that says, "Terrorists welcome."
It's been Project Hate as far as immigration's concerned.
Farage They're not refugees,
they're economic migrants, and there's a difference...
Leaving Europe will be bad for the NHS.
70 million Turks...
Unprincipled fiction!
They lied about the costs of Europe.
They lied about Turkey's entrance to Europe.
Why on Earth did you risk this?
...racist, because they're British!
Our daughter couldn't
get into her school!
Let me finish, Christine.
- ( woman yelling ) - Christine, let me make my point.
How are we going to pay for the National Health Service--
Christine: You are not paying for it now!
The mayor's just got in and said there's no money
to build these 50,000 homes that he said
he was gonna build. There's no--
Thank you, thank you. Gosh, I feel like a bloody rock star.
I can't believe how whipped up everyone is.
I knew you were one of the good ones off the telly.
You know, saying what the people really think.
Thank you. Thanks.
70 million Turks coming over here.
I mean, it's just-- It's frightening.
Well, yes, uh-- We don't actually know how many or when or--
It says in your flyer, look--
Boris: Yes, well, that is just the actual population of Turkey.
We should probably go. Sorry.
Yay!
( bus honking "Let's Go" by the Routers )
( cheering )
( cheering and honking continues )
It's schools, hospitals not coping because--
Yeah, yeah, but come on.
Hospitals would totally collapse without migrant workers.
Roger: Then give those jobs to British workers.
Oh, come on.
Tell them that unemployment
for British-born is dropping.
Say that.
But the argument that migrants bring in
more in taxes than they take out in services--
Yes, good. Now follow up.
Sandra: But how much of their wages
are they sending home, out the country?
Shamara: She's just said they pay more in taxes.
- As long as they pay... - Any more thoughts on that?
That's it, I'm going in...
Craig, that breaks the whole--
She's not testing our arguments.
Okay, that-- yep, that--
Oliver: Yeah, sorry to interrupt.
Sorry, who are you?
The hard facts, right?
The treasury receives
a net benefit of 20 billion
pounds a year from EU workers
paying into the system, growing the economy,
that's after using public services, so they are paying
for more care, more teachers, more--
That's not a good thing?
Yes, no one's saying that's not the truth.
Sorry. How much are we paying to be over there? Yeah.
Three hundred and fifty million!
OK, so have none of you
heard our messages on--
That 350 million pounds... is a lie.
- You would say that-- - No!
It does not exist, it has never existed,
a check for that amount has never been signed.
- We will not get it, if we leave. - Project Fear.
What will happen, is that our, our currency
will collapse, and the economy will contract.
How do you know that?
You lot get things wrong all the time.
I don't know why we pay anything.
To be a member of the single largest trading bloc in the entire world!
What benefit am I seeing from that where I'm from?!
I'd rather it go in the NHS like they're saying.
Oh, you do realize--
This is, uh, yep-- bad.
People making these promises, people you have never heard of--
"Dominic Cummings"! That they're not elected,
they are not going to form a government,
despite having made billions
of pretend spending promises post-Brexit
that they have no power or responsibility
to see any of it through!
OK, we could take a break--
Or Arron Banks and his diamond mine in South Africa
or Nigel Farage, the old stockbroker.
Boris Johnson, Jacob Rees-Mogg--
Yeah, they're gonna be fine, aren't they?
This is all just a game to them.
A debating society.
But the risk to you and your children--
There's no risk. Come to where I'm from.
There's nothing to lose.
We've got something to lose.
Our age. You lot have had your lives.
Excuse me. Had my life?
( indistinct shouting )
Take a risk! Sod it! Thank you very much.
I haven't been lucky! I've lost everything!
...because you are nervous about people
with a different color skin and different accent.
- Thank you very much. - I'm sick of being called that.
What did I call you? What did I say?
You know what you were calling me!
- No, I don't. - Racist! Racist! Racist!
( indistinct shouting )
Steve: Sorry, she's right, all right?
- Hate crimes-- - ( indistinct shouting )
All right, it's true. We can't say nothing now without that coming on.
( indistinct shouting )
Aah!
- Look, there's no need to-- - It wasn't on purpose.
You can stand there all you like and say I've had my life
coming from your big city. The past few years
have been fucking awful if you must know!
And all I hear all the time,
is "shut up, shut up, don't talk about it,
don't mention it, ever!"
Well I'm sick of it! I'm sick of feeling like nothing,
like I have nothing, like I know nothing...
like I am nothing. I'm sick of it!
( sobbing )
Oliver: I hadn't realized, and now it's too late.
Their campaign began twenty years ago. More.
Newsreader: ...Brexiteers.
The slow drip, drip, drip of fear and hate
without anyone willing to counter it.
( news program continues )
Worse, we stuck the boot in, too.
How many of us on this side blamed Europe or the outside
when it was politically convenient to do so?
And now? Now we're expected, in a matter of weeks,
to begin pushing back that tide.
( news program continues )
Man: ...and you are wrong and you're wrong.
Not one of you lot look like
you have come out of Southend-on-Sea.
So this is what we're reduced to, is it?
Man: ...Essex. Maybe you, sir, or you're London?
This is who we are...
( arguing indistinctly )
Newsreader: To the dismay of remain colleagues,
Geldof's signals were somewhat crude.
Newsreader: On that breaking news,
reports of a stabbing and shooting
involving the MP, Jo Cox.
Very scant information at this stage,
but, according to the press association,
their quoting an eye witness that says that the Batley
and Spen MP has been shot in the incident.
Jane Hill: Details really are scant.
- Jo Cox is the MP for Batley and Spen. - ( phone vibrating )
We now that she is involved in some way,
and we have been told that she is injured.
But I'm afraid that really is as much as
is coming through at the moment.
- So some sort of incident... - Oh, OK. Thanks.
...emergency services at the scene.
Newsreader: She's co-chair of the friends of Syria
all party Parliamentary group.
She was a strong advocate for Britain,
stronger in Europe.
We're hearing that she was at a nearby library holding a--
Police Commissionaire: Just before 1:00 today, Joe Cox,
MP for Batley and Spenborough was attacked
in Market Street, Birstall.
I am now very sad to have to report
that she has died as a result of her injuries.
Before going into further detail,
I would like to express our deepest sympathies
to her family and friends
at this tragic time.
Jo was attacked by a man who inflicted serious
and, sadly, ultimately fatal injuries.
Subsequently, there was a further attack
on a 77 year-old man nearby
who has sustained injuries that are non-life threatening.
Shortly afterwards, a man was arrested nearby by local uniform--
Newsreader: Cox was a vocal advocate of Britain remaining in the EU.
She and her family had been involved in campaigning
ahead of next week's referendum.
Both the leave and remain camps
have now suspended their campaigns as a mark of respect.
Man on TV: She was an MP, great campaigning MP with huge compassion,
with a big heart, and people are going to be
very, very sad at what has happened.
Newsreader: A moment for the country
to pause and remember the service of one of its youngest
and most promising lawmakers
as police try to establish a motive for this vicious--
( hydraulics activating )
Strange week.
Yeah.
Drink?
Oliver: I didn't think it'd be as bad as this.
- Oliver: You? - No.
But then again, isn't that what these types of questions do?
Force people into tribes?
Still, I think it should be possible, vital even,
for a country to be able to ask itself a question
and to be answered without... all this.
Without such hate. Without fucking death...
( sighs ) Yeah.
Seems it's moved way beyond our relationship
with an economic bloc.
It's about the soul of our country.
I worry that we won't be able to heal,
that this has created--
Exposed, we didn't create--
A type of debate, a politics that is...
unsophisticated, uncivilized, and worst of all... unkind.
Seriously, though, you don't worry about the long-term repercussions of all this?
Of undermining the very concept of expertise, of independent authority?
Your "experts" had an agenda--
Based on their knowledge.
You're feeding a toxic culture
where nobody can trust or believe anything.
That is not what I believe--
Nobody listens to each other, they just yell.
- Well-- - And the loudest--
...be heard, to give people a voice
- who've been ignored for years. - You're inciting them.
Don't confuse me with Banks and Farage.
They're the ones who are inciting people.
How convenient that you had them
to do your dirty work for you.
Have you ever really tried to stop them?
You and your lot have dominated politics,
political discourse for decades, Craig.
And what have you done with it? What?
You can't close the box, Dom, once it's been opened.
This is the new politics now.
The way that we will conduct--
Change is exciting.
What's your edge? What are you doing?
What have you found?
( scoffs )
- ( sighs ) - It's the sleep I miss.
- ( chuckles ) - I miss sleep.
God, I do, too. I miss sleep.
I honestly think I had more hours a night
when my kids were born than this.
( chuckles )
You're having a baby, aren't you?
Yeah. What have got? Two daughters?
Oliver: Three.
( exhales )
I think about it, you know.
About the kind of country that they'll grow up in.
What is this?
A "think of the children" appeal? Please, Craig.
I am doing-- I'm trying to get us ready.
The train coming down the tracks isn't the one that you expected,
it's not the one advertised on the board, well tough.
It isn't even the one that I imagined.
But I accept it. You can't stop it.
You're right. There is a new politics in town.
One that you cannot control.
Be careful what you wish for.
You won't be able to control it either.
- ( bell ringing ) - Barkeep: Last orders!
- ( bells chiming ) - Carol Walker: Tis decision day.
After all the campaigning, the rows and debates,
today, it is time for voters to have their say.
Polling stations opened at seven o'clock this morning.
More than 46 million people have their chance to vote today.
- That's a record for this country. - I voted to remain.
I don't think there's any good reason to stay in the thing.
Carole Walker: The referendum is taking place
in every part of the United Kingdom.
The polls are open until 10 o'clock tonight, and,
once they close, it will be at Manchester Town Hall
that the final result will be declared
by the chair of the electoral commission.
Good morning, ladies and gentleman.
The total number of ballot papers counted was
33,577,342.
The total number of votes cast
in favor of remain
was 16,141,241.
The total number of votes cast
in favor of leave
was 17,410,742.
( no audible dialogue )
( cheering )
You've changed the country forever!
David Dimbleby: And that's the result of this referendum,
which has been preceded by weeks and months
of argument and dispute.
The British people have spoken,
and the answer is, we're out.
( cheering )
If I may borrow from England's greatest wordsmith,
- "From this day to the ending of the world, - ( cell phone ringing )
but we in it shall remembered."
- Yeah. - Congratulations.
Elliot: I can't believe we did it. It's amazing.
- ...brothers. - ( cheering )
- Elliot: Dom, are you there? - Yeah. Great.
It's great.
Elliot: Look, I just wanna say,
I know we've our own little wobble--
- I've gotta go. - HQ: Dom! Dom! Dom!
( cheering )
All: ( chanting ) Speech!
What did we say we were gonna do?
- All: Win! - Man: Kill the CBI.
We wanted to take back control.
- What are we doing? - All: Taking back control.
- What have we done?! - All: Taken back control!
Come on!
( all cheering )
( cheering continues )
( sighs )
Farage: Honesty, decency, and faith in nature,
I think now is going to win.
( crowd cheering )
And we will have done it without having to fight
and without one single bullet being fired.
Actually, one bullet was fired, you moronic, little cunt.
( cheering )
( indistinct chatter )
And some people are now saying, "that was wrong."
And that the people should never
have been asked in this way.
I disagree.
( shouting angrily )
Johnson: I believe it was entirely right and inevitable.
Indeed there is no way of dealing
with a question on this scale
except by putting it to the people.
In the end, this question is about the people...
It's about the right of the people of this country...
to settle their own destiny.
Sophie Rayworth: Within hours, David Cameron announced
he was standing down as Prime Minister.
- Thank you very much. - He said he'd stay
in Number 10 for the next few months,
but that the country required fresh leadership.
( humming ) Right.
Cummings: I can't hear it anymore, can you? It's gone...
Elizabeth Denham: Mr. Cummings.
I said, "If you are the Unknown Soldier
in all of this, the real puppet master,
and we're all living in the future
you have imagined for us--"
This isn't my future. This is crap.
It's all gone crap.
Elizabeth Denham: So you were wrong?
Your predictions, your optimism for life
outside the EU, it was flawed?
This is a-- well, it's gonna be a multi-decade project.
- Multi-decade... - ( committee gasps )
- Cummings: Yeah. - I didn't see that on the side of the bus.
( chuckles softly )
The vision wasn't flawed,
it's people that are flawed.
The politicians-- they did it crap, they ruined it.
I said the entire Downing Street
operating system needed overhauling.
But you weren't there, were you?
You were pushed out once again.
There is a systems failure
in this country and across the West.
We're languishing, we're drifting,
without vision or a purpose.
What do you do usually when there is a systems failure?
You reset, and that's all I did. I reset.
And what did they do, what did all of you do?
You rebooted the same operating system.
The same tired old politics of short-termism,
and self-serving, small-thinking bullshit.
But are you not part of the same culture, Mr. Cummings?
- Nope. Well-- - Of half-truths, easy answers--
- False promises? - Yes! Yes!
Don't think that I don't know
I'm as bad as the rest of them.
That that's what the system does,
the virus, it infects.
But I was hoping, just praying that someone--
anyone with the minimalist amount
of even a fucking modicum,
an ounce of imagination or vision
or, Jesus Christ-- aspiration
could see that there was the opportunity for...
something to, to actually happen...
for someone to step in and do something
to make a change to, to... to just...
( sighs )
( Cummings sighs )
Are you done, Mr. Cummings?
( sighs )
Yeah, I'm done.
We're all done. Thank you.
( music playing )