This morning’s Times carried news of a complaint made by the Vote Leave campaign to the British Polling Council claiming a CBI poll showing eight out of ten businesses apparently supporting staying in the EU was rigged. This is Dom Cummings of Vote Leave’s email to the BPC this afternoon:

From: Dominic Cummings

Sent: 02 November 2015 13:32

To: John Curtice

Cc: Moon, Nick (GfK); Simon Atkinson, Peter Kellner Dear Professor Curtice, Please find attached a complaint to the British Polling Council about a 2013 YouGov survey for the Confederation of British Industry. I have copied in the other members of the BPC’s Management Committee and the President of YouGov. I would be grateful if you would acknowledge receipt of this letter. Yours sincerely, Dominic Cummings

Vote Leave

Unfortunately, the BPC’s Nick Moon accidentally pressed ‘reply all’ when he meant to send an internal email, meaning Cummings also received the less than flattering reply:

From: Moon, Nick (GfK)

Date: Mon, Nov 2, 2015 at 2:50 PM

Subject: RE: Complaint to the British Polling Council

To: Dominic Cummings, John Curtice

Cc: Simon Atkinson Bugger – at first glance the odious Cummings might be onto something. Survey looks pretty dodgy but luckily we don’t need to rule on that. But my initial thought is that YouGov did not give as much info as they should have nick

Which is almost as awkward as the admission that the CBI poll “looks pretty dodgy“. Long lunch?