The most ridiculous moments of the EU referendum

  • Published
CatImage source, Twitter/Matt Rogers
ByDel Crookes and Anna Doble
Newsbeat reporters

The EU referendum campaign seems like it's being going on for months. Because it has. It officially kicked off on 15 April.

And there have been some pretty crazy moments in those 10 weeks since.

Each side - Leave and Remain (in alphabetical order) - had £7m to spend on advertising, a free mail shot, TV broadcasts and £600,000 of public funds.

So how did they do?

You can read every detail from the campaign trail at the BBC's dedicated EU Referendum page.

These are some of the maddest moments from the campaign trail.

French people came over on the Eurostar to give us croissants

On Wednesday British commuters were love-bombed with buttery puff pastry.

Called Operation Croissant, the operation involved French people dishing out the most famous French breakfast foodstuff.

Ellie Graham-Dixon tweeted: #operationcroissant is now #3 trending on Twitter but with these tshirts surely deserve #1. Help us get there., external

It led to a general trend of French people saying nice things about the Brits on Twitter.

But there was a problem - because of electoral rules, food can't be handed out as part of a campaign....

Tim Farron did the rap from World in Motion

John Barnes is a legendary former Liverpool and England footballer who famously rapped on the New Order track World in Motion - England's official song at Italia '90.

Earlier this week when David Beckham revealed he was siding with Remain, one of the leaders of the Leave campaign, Michael Gove, hit back by saying Barnes was with him. Problem was, he was wrong and Barnes was pretty keen to set the record straight, external.

Now, Lib Dem leader Tim Farron's tried to capitalise on the moment by doing his own version of the rap....

See for yourself how that went., external

There was a mock sea battle on the Thames - really

Last week the EU referendum got a bit silly.

The Brexit flotilla in the ThamesImage source, EPA

Leave campaigner Nigel Farage sailed a fishing boat up the Thames to urge Parliament to take back control of British waters from the EU.

But he was met by an angry Remain supporter - Bob Geldof - who of course had a boat of his own. He even stuck his fingers up at the UKIP politician. How rude.

Bob Geldof's Remain boatImage source, EPA
Image caption,

Nobody noticed the person at the back holding the sign up the wrong way

The former rock star yelled that the UKIP leader was "no fisherman's friend" - Mr Farage then accused Mr Geldof of "mocking" impoverished fishermen.

Nigel FarageImage source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Nigel Farage gets very excited by the London Eye

Boris Johnson doesn't like live reporting when he's speaking

The former London mayor and Tory MP has been campaigning for the UK to leave the EU.

Boris JohnsonImage source, EPA
Image caption,

Here's Boris Johnson with a rather large fish in Lowestoft...

Boris JohnsonImage source, PA
Image caption,

Boris also wielded a circular saw in Christchurch, Dorset, during the campaign

But he doesn't like it when reporters do live reports when he's giving a speech.

At one rally in Manchester Channel 4 News's political correspondent Michael Crick tried to give an update on TV but was spotted by Boris, who put a stop to it by getting the crowd to interrupt him.

This is the moment Boris said: "Some chap from the media's trying to do his piece to camera.", external

But like the trooper he is, Michael Crick carried on after a member of the audience tried to stop him.

He was however banned from a rally this week - according to the journalist himself.

He says he wasn't welcome at the event., external

There were ridiculous songs everywhere during the campaign

The Leave campaign stole a march on the competition way back in February with this parody track.

It's based on The Lightning Seeds's Three Lions from 1996, England's official football song - topical with Euro 2016 going on., external

There was a track trying to get younger voters to actually vote from the Remain camp.

It used the hashtag #VotingToTheBeat and lyrics include "There's a big black sky over Albion, our economy's crushed and our jobs are down," all to the tune of Robyn's Dancing On My Own.

It also has lots of British and European flags done in make-up on people's faces., external

Warning: This third party video contains swearing and may contain adverts

The Britain Stronger in Europe campaign also released a video which featured lots of strobe lights and skydiving and no politicians or campaign logos.

It was widely panned on social media for being condescending after it used words like Workin, Learnin, Earnin, Shoppin, Ravin, Chattin, Roamin, Makin - oh - I see what they're doing.

It was published on the Stronger In Twitter feed., external

UKIP launched this Leave campaign video this week - featuring chickens debating whether to leave a dark and oppressive-looking warehouse.

A shadowy figure speaks over a tannoy telling them to stay., external

Animals were also used during campaigning - mainly cats

#CatsAgainstBrexit - that is all.

The Twitter hashtag was apparently started by someone called Lilian Edwards, who works at the University of Strathclyde.

This is her cat., external

That led to these...

One MEP pictured his cat., external

Louise is obviously the joker in the pack., external

And these cats had split opinions., external

Will Young's taking over the Leave campaign bus

Yes - stop those sniggers at the back, he is still releasing music.

Will YoungImage source, Getty Images

The former Pop Idol winner (back in 2002) is actually taking over the "Brexit battle bus" to take him to Glastonbury after it went out of Leave service on Wednesday.

The news was revealed by BBC politics producer Chris Gibson., external

And an old Margaret Thatcher EU jumper's back on sale

9 flag jumperImage source, Common Market

The last time the UK had a referendum on staying in the EU was way back in 1975.

The Tories had joined the EEC, as it was known then, in 1973 but Labour won a general election in 1974 and promised people that they'd have their say on whether we continued to be members or not.

Britain stayed in.

Margaret Thatcher in 1975Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,

The last UK referendum on the EU was so long ago - the photo of Margaret Thatcher in her "9 flags" jumper is in black and white

But one of the standout moments was then Tory MP Margaret Thatcher's "9 flags" jumper (because there were nine countries in the EU in those days).

This man spotted former BBC Newsnight presenter Jeremy Paxman wearing one., external

If you want one it'll set you back though - they're on sale for £45.

And there were branded Leave condoms of course.

They were released in February - we don't know how popular they were..., external

Find us on Instagram at BBCNewsbeat, external and follow us on Snapchat, search for bbc_newsbeat