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Led by Donkeys’ digital billboard parks outside Arron Banks’ office
Days after a billboard designed to look like a tweet from ardent Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg appeared next to the Old Market roundabout, an advertising van turned up outside the Bristol office of Leave.EU displaying a rolling selection of historic tweets, news articles and more.
During the referendum campaign, Leave.EU claimed that the Nissan plant in Sunderland was safe from Brexit and that Wiltshire-based Dyson is investing heavily in the UK.
It has recently been announced that Dyson is moving to Singapore and Nissan will now not be building the X-Trail car in the North East.
Leave.EU’s official address is The Quadrant in Aztec West. Their registered office is Lysander House on Catbrain Lane near Cribbs Causeway, which is also the headquarters of Eldon Insurance, owned by Banks.
Footage filmed in 2015 by BBC Inside Out West in the Aztec West offices appears to show staff switching between his insurance firm and the EU campaign.
In June 2018, Banks told a committee of MPs that nobody worked for both organisations. However, he later told the BBC’s Andrew Marr that some staff did transfer on short-term contracts.
On February 1, Leave.EU and Eldon Insurance were fined a total of £120,000 for data breaches by the information commissioner.
Leave.EU was fined £15,000 for using Eldon Insurance customers’ details unlawfully to send almost 300,000 political marketing messages, and a further £45,000 for its part in sending an Eldon marketing campaign to political subscribers. Eldon was fined £60,000 for the latter violation.
The advertising van is being paid for by a crowdfunder organised by grassroots group Led By Donkeys, which launched three weeks ago and has already raised almost £90,000 from the public.
Read more: Jacob Rees-Mogg claims Bristol billboard is ‘fundamentally dishonest’
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