Tax QC turned Brexpert Jo Maugham won’t stand in general election

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By Legal Cheek Reporter on

But silk hopes ideas on his blog will be taken forward

The original version of this post has been amended after we incorrectly stated that Jolyon Maugham QC had announced he would stand against Theresa May in the general election and had subsequently changed his mind. We accept that Maugham never announced that he would stand against Theresa May and there was no change of mind. We have amended our story and apologise to Maugham.

A tax specialist now better known for his anti-Brexit stance has been forced to explain that he won’t stand against Prime Minister Theresa May in the election, after his blog post was misinterpreted.

Jo Maugham set tongues wagging yesterday with an interesting blog post in which he suggested standing against Prime Minister Theresa May in the election and throwing a 28-day long party. But with some having misinterpreted the post, the QC then issued a short update making explicit his intention just to float ideas.

In the post Devereux Chambers’ Maugham suggested that he’s planning on throwing a “joyous, optimistic” mega party, each day being “hosted (food, drink, costume)” by one of the EU Member States. The blog continued:

And to deliver focus, and urgency, and to frame the contrast with the nation at large, and to make the party a national event, we stand a candidate (Jo Maugham QC) in Maidenhead against Theresa May [Maidenhead is her constituency]. Jo has a good national media profile as a campaigner against tax avoidance and on Brexit.

Maugham, whose crowdfunding efforts helped pay for the Brexit legal challenge, continued:

The celebration will lay the foundations for a new political party. The strength of those foundations are our metric of success. We will collect members. We will build a brand. And we will raise funding.

Yesterday, in the update posted on his blog Maugham said that “with great reluctance” he will not be standing for election nor throwing the festival as suggested. But, he asks: “might there be something to take forward after the general election?”

Meanwhile, Maugham’s continued pursuit for Brexit clarity is running full steam ahead. The staunch pro-Remainer recently launched a legal challenge in the Irish High Court, which he hopes will shed light on whether the UK’s Article 50 notification is revocable.

Earlier this week, Maugham revealed directions in the Dublin case have been agreed and that there will be a further preliminary hearing in May. The substantive hearing is expected to follow in June or July.

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The original version of this post has been amended after we incorrectly stated that Jolyon Maugham QC had announced he would stand against Theresa May in the general election and had subsequently changed his mind. We accept that Maugham never announced that he would stand against Theresa May and there was no change of mind. We have amended our story and apologise to Maugham.