Show caption Selfies on the Staffordshire University leg of his ‘Stand up for Europe’ campaign trail. Photograph: Mark Scott Brexit Eddie Izzard: ‘My vision would make the entire world work’ He’s on a mission to enlist students in the campaign for Europe. Is Eddie Izzard the champion Remainers need to beat Brexit? Alfie Packham @alfiepackham Wed 15 Jun 2016 06.30 EDT Share on Facebook

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“I may look confusing, but I have a clear message,” says Eddie Izzard to an audience of around 200 people at Staffordshire University’s Leek Road assembly hall. The 54 year-old comedian and actor struts the stage in a pair of black stilettos, a “Stand up for Europe” T-shirt, and a shocking pink beret with matching lipstick. It’s Izzard’s chosen uniform for a whistle-stop tour of universities, on which he is imploring students across the UK to vote “remain” in this month’s referendum.

The crowd gives a generous laugh. He’s on a roll today. “It’s not a rosy, dreamy vision of Europe that I have; I am a realist,” he goes on. “I think I can prove that to you by saying, look at me.” Izzard came out as transgender 31 years ago and these days is as likely to be wearing a frock as a shirt and tie. “I thought, people in the UK will be OK about this. And generally, they have been. We gradually move forwards, not backwards. That above all is my argument for remaining in Europe: is this not the story of humanity?”

The room seems to hang on Izzard’s every word, applauding at all the right moments – but then he’s preaching to the converted. The vast majority of the Stoke-on-Trent audience is in favour of remaining in the EU, and it’s not only students who have shown up today. Representing each wing of Izzard fandom are comedy buffs, Labour members (Izzard has been one himself since 1995), and one or two cross-country enthusiasts (he’s recently become something of a marathon-running legend after completing 27 of them in as many days).

Izzard has become a marathon runner’s idol after running 27 of them in as many days. Photograph: Alfie Packham

And why a university tour? According to Izzard, young people have the most to lose in the event of a Brexit. “The EU referendum is a no-brainer for them,” he says. He enjoys chatting to students, although he dropped out of his own degree in accounting and finance at Sheffield in the early eighties to follow his acting dreams. He says he’d much rather have been a student of 2016: universities are more inclusive of LGBT people nowadays – and they offer more European exchange schemes.

As he travels from campus to campus, he has been met with a mixed response. Not everyone has taken to this less familiar version of Eddie Izzard: the earnest, political campaigner making lofty, unrehearsed speeches. Following a panel appearance at the University of Reading earlier this month, a student tweeted: “It’s like he’s writing an essay and trying his hardest to make the word count.”

They have a point. As I interview Izzard backstage, he isn’t always easy to follow. He speaks quickly, and passionately, lurching from one subject to another, unleashing a stream of abstract nouns. “I think that people want real people to be in politics,” he tells me. “Politicians are real people, but they’ve spent their lives in politics. I’ve looked for the edges of life. I’ve looked to see where can we go, what can we do, what can we see, what can I analyse about the direction forward. I’ve come up with this worldview which I think is the worldview that we have to do, which is we have to be heading towards a world where there are fair chances. Because otherwise, people are going to be despairing. Despair is the fuel of terrorism, and hope is the fuel of civilisation.”

Few in the mainstream “Stronger In” campaign bother to grapple with such existential themes. But his philosophical approach might also explain why Izzard hasn’t fared so well in panel debates. “Humanity” was his watchword during BBC Question Time last Thursday night, and this clearly grated with some in the audience.

It was a memorable broadcast: the seating plan placed Izzard beside Ukip leader Nigel Farage, resulting almost inevitably in a series of shouting matches. Izzard was visibly frustrated throughout the programme, while the real low point came when he was told to “shut up” by an exasperated heckler. A damning editorial by the Independent would say his appearance was “one of the best adverts for Brexit we have seen in a long time”.

Izzard shrugs. “It was a split in the audience. If someone shouts something negative, it sounds like everyone’s negative.”

Izzard is no fan of negative campaigning and scaremongering. Photograph: Mark Scott

There is a certain novelty to Izzard’s idealistic campaign, amid all the scaremongering on both sides of the EU debate. “I live and breathe positive campaigning,” he says often. His upbeat approach is going down well with the kind of young people who admire the idealism of Jeremy Corbyn and Bernie Sanders.

At Staffordshire, Bal Deol, 23, tells me: “I’m voting remain. I’m impressed by how Eddie carries himself; there must be a lot of pressure on him.”

Darren Clark, 22, agrees: “He’s very passionate, and you can really tell that when you’re in the room with him – even if it does hide some of the holes in his arguments.”

It is true that attention to detail may not be his greatest strength, though Izzard insists he can talk about “the nitty-gritty” of the European Union. He reels off a few examples of what could immediately be at stake for students if the UK leaves: the European health insurance card (Ehic), the Erasmus scheme, low-cost flights – which he claims would all be under threat if Britain votes to leave. But he doesn’t dwell on this stuff. “Right now it’s open season for making up whatever facts and figures you want: the entire population of Turkey is moving into your house and sitting in your garden...”

Recent YouGov polling data suggests that most students are already on Izzard’s side: 73% of people aged 18 to 29 are in favour of remaining in the EU. Yet now that the deadline for registration has passed, the battle may already be won or lost. Izzard appears confident, though. “I think the students who registered will go all the way and turn out,” he says. “What young people really want is a vision for the future. Brexit has no vision besides downsizing, pulling apart, and separating off. I’m trying to give a vision that will make the entire world work.”

Multilingual comedian, actor, runner, activist... and uniter of nations? Izzard has a week left to add an impressive new line to his CV.