Jolyon Maugham is hurrying through the streets of west London on his way to a meeting about Britain’s impending departure from the European Union. Even as he sidesteps dawdling tourists and dodges black cabs, Maugham is arguing about Brexit.
“That’s a terrible point and I’m going to demolish it in a blog post later,” he says, when it’s suggested his latest legal action in Dublin might be counterproductive. He then explains, in three stages, exactly why the point is so terrible. “If you don’t like the answer, don’t ask the question,” he shrugs.
A prominent tax lawyer, Maugham has emerged as one of the most potent voices against the U.K.’s looming European exit. Last year, he raised 10,000 pounds ($12,400) in a crowdfunding campaign for a legal challenge over Prime Minister Theresa May’s plan to start the formal process for Brexit, an Article 50 notice, without first holding a vote in Parliament.
That campaign became the People’s Challenge, one of the groups supporting Gina Miller in a case that went all the way to the Supreme Court -- and won. May still plans to trigger Article 50 as soon as this month, after a vote in Parliament went her way earlier this week.
Now Maugham has filed a new legal challenge in Dublin, which he wants to be referred to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg. He’s seeking a ruling that an Article 50 notice can be revoked if an EU member changes its mind about leaving. An initial hearing is scheduled for as soon as June.
Terrible Mistake
“I think we have made a terrible mistake,” he says a few days later, over dinner at an Indian restaurant in Westminster. “If the electorate comes to think it has made a terrible mistake, it should have the right to reverse it.”
The 45-year-old, who has a large head covered in silver hair, wears stylish black-rimmed glasses and carries a leather satchel that, combined with his impish sense of humor, can give the impression of a student at after-school debating club.
After dinner, he’s due to speak to a left-wing political group, The Young Fabians, at a nearby government building. He allows himself a single beer with his curried octopus starter.
Maugham’s day job is helping clients, mostly wealthy individuals or companies, in their legal disputes with the government. But these days, his real ambitions are elsewhere -- specifically a building a few hundred yards away in Parliament Square.