Former Head of MI6 Sir John Sawers, "Russia was very keen that the Leave campaign should succeed and that Britain should leave the European Union" "Because that would marginalise Britain as a global player and weaken Europe in general" "That's the strategic opportunity the Russians spotted, and the leaders of the Leave campaign fell into it" My view: Former MI6 chief Sir John Sawers says Russia saw Brexit as a way to weaken Britain and divide Europe, and that the Leave campaign’s leaders walked straight into the opportunity. So let’s remember who sold it: VOTE LEAVE • Boris Johnson — political figurehead • Michael Gove and Gisela Stuart — campaign committee co-convenors • Matthew Elliott — chief executive • Dominic Cummings — campaign director • Daniel Hannan — leading Brexit advocate • Priti Patel, Iain Duncan Smith, Chris Grayling, John Whittingdale and Theresa Villiers — senior Conservative campaigners • David Davis, Liam Fox, Dominic Raab, Steve Baker and Douglas Carswell — prominent Leave campaigners LEAVE. EU • Nigel Farage — leading political figure • Arron Banks — co-chairman and major funder • Andy Wigmore — communications director GRASSROOTS OUT / LABOUR LEAVE • Peter Bone and Tom Pursglove — Grassroots Out co-founders • Kate Hoey — Grassroots Out co-founder and Labour Leave campaigner • Graham Stringer, Kelvin Hopkins and Roger Godsiff — Labour Leave campaigners • Sammy Wilson — prominent DUP Leave campaigner They promised Brexit would make Britain stronger. Sawers says Russia saw the opposite opportunity: a Britain marginalised and a Europe weakened.

Left: Conservative Mims Davies claims we got the covid vaccine because we left the EU Right: Dr June Raine says UK vaccine program ran while the UK was still legally within the EU and under EU law My view: Every time a Brexit politician claims Britain got the Covid vaccine first because we left the EU, they run into the same inconvenient fact: we were still bound by EU law when the vaccine was approved. The UK authorised the Pfizer vaccine on 2 December 2020. The first vaccinations followed on 8 December. The Brexit transition period did not end until 31 December, so EU law still applied. And MHRA chief executive Dr June Raine said the approval used Regulation 174, a provision under European law that remained available until 1 January. The UK had left the EU politically in January, but that did not mean it had escaped EU rules by December. The early approval came through a regulatory route available under those rules. Brexit politicians are taking credit for a decision made while those rules still governed us, and the regulator was explaining exactly that. That is what makes this claim so shameless. They take a genuine achievement by scientists, regulators and the NHS, erase the legal timeline, and sell it as proof Brexit delivered something it did not. It wasn’t Brexit that made the vaccine possible. The official responsible for authorising it said the legal basis was European law.