one week to go before Britain's
referendum on membership of the European
Union the poll suggests that the race is
tightening and there's a few jitters in
the remain camp not least in Downing
Street here with me is Philip Stevens
chief political commentator of the
Financial Times Philip how do you see it
is it that tight well all polls have to
come with a very big health warning we
saw last year with the general election
here how they can all get it wrong that
said if you talk to people in the prime
ministers remain camp let's stay in
Europe camp two weeks ago
Gerry we're going to do it if not coast
they're comfortable last night talking
to a bunch of the people at the heart of
the campaign we're nervous really
nervous
not quite panicked but very very nervous
so what may have gone wrong well
wherever the polls were two weeks ago
the feeling is they have shifted to the
leave campaign over the past 10 days the
view is that immigration which the leaf
has campaign has pretty ruthlessly
exploited with some mendacious claims
about the numbers of Turkish immigrants
that might come to Britain in the next
several years the feeling is that that
has caught thee if you like the emotions
of those groups that are people that
Trump is appealing to in the u.s. who
feel that they've been left on the
sidelines by globalization and drowned
out the message that the remain camp
felt really would resonate which is the
economic costs of withdrawal yes and I
think it still is a battle between
economics and if you like emotion
identity and these other aspects of
policy the remain campaign is gonna have
to sit on look you may feel bad you may
not like Brussels you may not like the
immigration but do you really want to
jeopardize the country's prosperity
in your own income and the leaf campaign
is gonna push harder and harder I think
on the immigration question and say look
you're going to be swamped by immigrants
if this goes on of course what's
extraordinary is that David Cameron the
conservative Prime Minister is sharing
the platform with key labor figures not
least said he can recently elected the
first Muslim mayor of London yeah I
think there are two big political trends
at work here the first is the sort of
fragmentation of politics which we've
seen over the past several years the two
big parties no longer have the iron grip
on politics that they used to have and
the second is really a battle between
round heads and and Cavaliers around it
the round heads are the leave campaign
in in the sense in the Tory Party that
people who want to overturn they're
attacking the elites the sort of public
school educated people around David
Cameron and of course you see the same
in the Labour Party where Jeremy Corbyn
the leader who mounted effectively a
sort of coup led by the activists last
year they're trying to do this that
they're pushing back against the Labour
establishment so what you're seeing is
the two establishments the old Labour
establishment and the Tory establishment
pulling together in favour of remain
while the if you like the the Roundheads
in both parties have joined together in
favor of leave Philip I'm not going to
ask you even with all your experience
what you think is going to happen next
week in the referendum but I will ask
you this did David Cameron make a big
mistake in calling for a referendum he
made a terrible mistake and if it's a
leave vote he will go down in history as
pros probably as the prime minister who
made the biggest peacetime if you like
mistake in post-war history as for the
result I think one can say one thing if
the normal rules of politics still apply
we will vote to remain if the rules of
politics have been completely overturned
we will vote leave
America should start thinking about a
Donald Trump presidency Phillip Stephens
thank you very much