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21st Jun 2016

John Barnes denies Michael Gove’s claim he supports Brexit, backs Remain campaign instead

This is embarrassing

Kevin Beirne

With polls for the EU referendum opening in less than 48 hours, both sides are looking to score points any way they can.

Both Remain and Leave campaigners are doing all they can do convince the few undecided voters what direction to push Britain in going forward.

There are strong arguments on both sides, but unfortunately both Leave and Remain campaigners are prone to fudging the facts a little in order to get their point across.

This weeks has seen a string of celebrities come out in support of their viewpoint, such as David Beckham and Jeremy Clarkson backing the Remain camp while Sol Campbell pushes for leave.

So most of us might not have batted an eyelid when Michael Gove claimed that former Liverpool and England footballer John Barnes was backing Brexit on June 23, even though he is not.

Royal Mail Stamp Launch

After a little digging, it was discovered that Barnes actually believes the opposite of Gove’s claim, preferring instead that Britain remains in the EU.

Speaking to Sky News, the 79-times capped England international explained how his opinions about the effect Brexit would have on British footballers were confused with his overall opinion on Thursday’s referendum.

Although he had already made his desire to remain clear to the Leave campaign, he says he was shocked to hear from his son he was supposedly supporting Britain withdrawing from the EU.