Mon 20th Jun 2016 - Wetherspoon prints fresh round of beer mats with message for George Osborne Wetherspoon prints fresh round of beer mats with message for George Osborne: JD Wetherspoon has printed a new beer mat for its pubs with a message for George Osborne in the run up to the EU referendum. JD Wetherspoon has printed 500,000 of the new beer mats for use across its 920 UK pubs. It follows on from its first beer mat that drew attention to governance issues with senior staff at the International Monetary Fund. The new beer mat has a message on both sides, signed by JD Wetherspoon founder and chairman Tim Martin. It is titled “Cronyism is bad for Britain – a few questions for George Osborne”. It reads: “Dear Mr Osborne. You say that you won the economic argument. Many strongly disagree. Democracy leads to prosperity and freedom – and the EU is increasingly undemocratic, with awful results in Greece, Spain and Portugal and 15 years’ stagnation in Italy. Our European friends are being dragged down by Brussels’ bureaucracy. I think that you are relying too much on cronies, whose organisations did not predict the last downturn and who don’t realise what they don’t know.” The reverse of the beer mat reads: “You rely on the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), HM Treasury and the Bank of England to support the ‘Remain’ case, yet: 1. You officially nominated your friend (in January) Christine Lagarde, as head of the IMF; 2. The OECD is funded by the EU, and you are a friend of its head – Jose Angel Gurria; 3. You, George Osborne, are the boss of HM Treasury; 4. You employed Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of England. Does the nation not deserve more independent advice?” Martin added: “Mr Cameron and Mr Osborne have tried to fool the public using scare stories from cronies or subordinates. Their main economic case relies on these people and their views are not independent or believable. In an interview reported yesterday (Sunday, 19 June), Cameron said ignoring the above ‘experts’ views on Brexit would be like taking ‘a risk with your family getting into a faulty car’ on a motorway and to jumping ‘out of the aeroplane’. Cameron yet again deliberately uses images of fear and destruction. He is underestimating the intelligence of the public, who will not swallow this guff.”