All’s fair in love, war and democratic elections I suppose. I’ve lived through enough of them to take manifestos and “read my lips” type pledges with a shovel full of salt. I’ve even participated in a few dodgy ones myself – student contests and by-elections stand out in the memory for low-level dirty trickery. I’m not proud of that.

Even so, the more we know about the Brexit referendum of 2016 the more it feels like a campaign that crossed a few lines. Legal ones in fact, with successful prosecutions against both Remain and Leave groups. The latest accusations levelled at the Leave.EU campaign are disturbing. Then again you only have to read Arron Banks’s candid memoir Bad Boys of Brexit to understand some of the excesses they went in for.

Farage launches his new Brexit Party: in pictures Show all 10 1 /10 Farage launches his new Brexit Party: in pictures Farage launches his new Brexit Party: in pictures Nigel Farage speaks at the launch of his new Brexit Party's campaign for the European elections Reuters Farage launches his new Brexit Party: in pictures Brexit Party candidate Annunziata Rees-Mogg, sister of Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg, speaks at the launch AFP/Getty Farage launches his new Brexit Party: in pictures A supporter waits for Farage to speak AFP/Getty Farage launches his new Brexit Party: in pictures Supporters wait for Farage to speak AFP/Getty Farage launches his new Brexit Party: in pictures Farage's socks Reuters Farage launches his new Brexit Party: in pictures Farage and prospective candidate Annunziata Rees-Mogg wait at the launch AFP/Getty Farage launches his new Brexit Party: in pictures Supporters listen as Farage speaks AFP/Getty Farage launches his new Brexit Party: in pictures Free T-shirts for all attendees AFP/Getty Farage launches his new Brexit Party: in pictures Posters on the seats for supporters of the Brexit Party AFP/Getty Farage launches his new Brexit Party: in pictures A safety sign is pictured AFP/Getty

To be fair, I also felt that the government spending millions of pounds on a supposedly neutral leaflet, but which was also a flimsily disguised case for Remain was also pretty deplorable. In the first European referendum, that is the one in the 1975, we did things better – a government recommendation plus one each for the equivalents of Leave and Remain. It was loaded to the EU cause, but still.

There was a big structural issue in 2016 too. The Leave campaign was not a government in waiting. It was divided by personality and by part. When the famous official Vote Leave bus had the £350m a week pledge for the NHS on the side, a figure constantly repeated by Boris Johnson, it could be cheerfully renounced by the rival Leave.EU and Nigel Farage. We were not about to elect a Leave government with Boris as PM, Kate Hoey as Brexit secretary and Farage as chancellor (can you imagine?). It was cobblers anyhow.

It was a cynical campaign on all sides, including Project Fear, the failure of which is George Osborne’s personal part in the whole sorry affair.

Will it be different next time?