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Get Ready for the Great British Bore-Off. The campaign ahead of the EU Referendum – which could drag on for two years – might prompt us all to leave… the country.

Richard Branson , Tory peer Stuart Rose and June Sarpong (apparently she’s a former TV presenter) will be the public faces of the campaign to stay in the EU .

Those who want us out include Nigel Farage, Nigel Lawson and millionaire Labour donor John Mills.

But where are all the voices from outside the M25? The council leaders, the northern entrepreneurs, the REAL people?

At the In campaign launch, former M&S chief Rose fluffed his lines and claimed being in the EU is worth £480million – for each household.

Perhaps they should take the former Marks and Sparks boss back in 30 days to exchange him!

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My big worry is that the In campaign will seem to be as remote and ­establishment as Better Together before the Scottish Referendum.

The In campaign’s director of strategy is Ryan Coetzee, who was in charge of the Lib Dems’ general ­election campaign – which ended in their worst-ever defeat.

At the same time the people who ran the successful No 2 AV campaign are running Vote Leave.

(Image: Stefan Rousseau/PA)

If there’s a fight between a bunch of London liberal luvvies and some experienced street fighters, I know who’s going to win.

As a veteran of the last European Referendum in 1975 (I campaigned to come out because I didn’t want a “superstate”) I know how important it is to get your message out.

The Yes campaign won because all the newspapers lined up behind it, including the Tories , PM Harold Wilson and half the Labour cabinet.

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Britain voted two-to-one to stay in the Common Market because the fear of leaving was much greater than staying put.

Forty years on I still think we’re creeping slowly towards a federal superstate.

But I’m warmer to Europe because it’s good for trade and jobs and helps us deliver social justice.

Being part of the EU also ­strengthens our bargaining hand with the rest of the world. And I was able to get agreement at the Kyoto climate change talks because I was ­negotiating for the EU.

Leaving Europe would turn us into a Little Britain.

The result will be much tighter and could go either way so the In campaign must raise its game.

(Image: Ben Pruchnie)

I’m looking forward to Labour’s separate pro-Europe campaign, which will be led by my mate Alan Johnson .

I’d pick former postie Johnson over businessman Rose to deliver success any day of the week.

But the big problem is David Cameron. He’s tried to ride both horses leading up to the official announcement of the referendum date.

Like Harold Wilson – the Prime Minister in 1975 – he’s trying to get reforms agreed by the other European leaders.

But there are two big ­differences. His concessions will be as weak as water. And, secondly, European leaders LIKED Harold.

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Cameron seems to have put everyone’s back up – from Germany’s ­Chancellor Angela Merkel to France’s President François Hollande.

An issue that really concerns me is, who’s paying for all this?

The taxpayer spent more than £75million on the AV referendum but this vote will cost much more.

And the tsunami of campaign ­leaflets, ads, videos and posters will be financed by big money from donors. Unelected millionaires will be throwing around cash to swing the vote to suit them.

That’s why we should ban big money donations from businessmen. Not only will it clean up our politics, it’ll stop your letterboxes being clogged up with wads of leaflets.