Boris Johnson uses daughter’s graduation to push his Brexit message by unveiling poster during ceremony
Referendum race will go down to the wire with polls putting Remain narrowly ahead
BORIS Johnson could not resist one last push for the EU referendum at his daughter’s university graduation today.
While waiting to watch his eldest child Lara Johnson-Wheeler graduate he unfurled a “last chance to vote” poster at the ceremony, at St Andrews in Scotland.
Campaigning on the referendum day is against strict voting regulations but he might get away with it.
This is because, one witness said, he was not telling people to vote for a particular side.
The witness told : “It was all done very much tongue in cheek. Both posters got a huge cheer and round of applause.
“Boris wasn’t telling people who to vote for, just for them to get out there and make the effort.”
The former mayor of London was in St Andrews with his QC wife to watch as Lara, 22, was awarded a degree in Latin and Comparative Literature from the town’s university.
He arrived last night after a mammoth day on the campaign trail which started with him kissing fish at Billingsgate Market with Joey Essex’s uncle and ended with him enjoying a well-earned pint in a pub near Darlington.
RELATED STORIES
Later in the ceremony, a student unveiled their own ‘remain’ message as she walked on stage to collect their award and waved it in Boris’s direction.
If Boris is nervous about the EU referendum result he did not show it.
After the hour long ceremony, the politician and his family moved to the St Salvator’s Quad for a champagne reception before heading off for lunch.
The result of today’s referendum is said to be too close to call with Remain having a narrow lead.
Britain Elects has taken the averages from Populus, Mori, ComRes, YouGov, Opinium. TNS and Survation and its averages stand at 51% for Remain and Leave at 49%.
A Populus poll survey gives the pro-EU camp a 10-point lead over the Brexiteers.
The online survey of 4,700 people , carried out until midnight last night, shows 55 per cent of voters backing Remain compared to 45 per cent for Brexit.
Meanwhile an Ipsos MORI survey shows a slightly narrower four-point lead of 52 per cent wanting to stay in the European Union, against 48 per cent for a Brexit.
The Ipsos MORI poll’s silver lining for Brexiteers is it suggests 12 per cent of people might change their minds in the final few hours before stepping into the polling booth.