We will use your email address only for sending you newsletters. Please see our Privacy Notice for details of your data protection rights.

Britain left the EU on January 31 after almost half-a-century of eurosceptic frustration. The journey there, though, was not an easy one. Brexit day was preceded by a debilitating political period that bitterly divided the nation, with many parliamentarians and politicians trying to ignore the will of the people.

The 2016 EU referendum campaign also involved unprecedented levels of parliamentary rancour, public anger and mistrust.

However, despite all odds and with the entire political establishment massed against them, the Leave campaign succeeded in what many thought was an impossible battle to take Britain out of the European Union.

Boris Johnson’s special adviser Dominic Cummings has been widely credited for being the chief administrative mastermind behind the campaign.

However, unearthed reports reveal that an obscure Canadian technology firm might have also helped Vote Leave in landing their sensational victory.

According to a throwback report by The Telegraph, election data showed that AggregateIQ (AIQ), a technology company operating out of a tiny office above an opticians in a provincial Canadian city, was given £3.5million by Leave campaigners in the run up to the 2016’s EU vote – equivalent to more than ten percent of the £32million spent by both sides during the campaign.

According to Electoral Commission figures, no other company or individual was handed more cash during the referendum battle.

AIQ is a low-profile consultancy that specialises in online advertising and developing highly-targeted Facebook advertising.

Mr Cummings said the company had been “instrumental” in securing the Brexit vote, after developing sophisticated models to relentlessly hone the campaign’s online message.

JUST IN: Germany warned bloc is in danger of complete COLLAPSE’

The company’s website featured an approving quote from Mr Cummings.

It read: “Without a doubt, the Vote Leave campaign owes a great deal of its success to the work of AggregateIQ.

“We couldn’t have done it without them.”

The Brexit guru wrote in a blog earlier that year that the group had fought against the “all-pervasive charlatanry” among experts in the advertising industry and instead “put almost all our money into digital”.

He wrote: “When things are digital you can be more empirical and control the timing.

“The world of advertising agencies and PR companies were sure we had screwed up because they did not see what we were doing.”

AIQ was set up in 2013 by Zack Massingham, a 37-year-old Canadian former university official turned digital marketing guru.

DON’T MISS:
Dominic Cummings’ bombshell Brexit confession exposed [ANALYSIS]
How Boris Johnson ‘sold out Falklands’ in savage fishing row [REVEALED]
SNP spent £20k on EU legal advice that did NOT exist [INSIGHT]

The company has 20 staff and worked out of a second floor office in a shopping centre in downtown Victoria.

An insider said: “We look to work on both sides of the aisle. We don’t want to be pigeonholed and we don’t ally ourselves to any political movement.”

Mr Massingham said his company had worked “on everything from small mayoral campaigns, to presidential primaries in the US”.

He explained: “We have worked in Europe, North America, South America, and Africa – across the political spectrum – helping campaigns, candidates, and other organizations to build and mobilize audiences, engage with their voters, and make sense of these interactions through the data they collect.

“We build software tools, database solutions, and engagement strategies that help focus campaign efforts to achieve their goals.”

Paul Stephenson, the communications director of Vote Leave, added: “Zack and AIQ were instrumental in helping the Leave campaign win. Together with our digital director, Henry De Zoete, they transformed Vote Leave’s digital offering and helped us to contact voters over one billion times online.

“Traditional advertising agencies wanted us to spend most of our money on expensive billboards but AIQ enabled us to reach our target swing voters online much more effectively and efficiently. They are great campaigners.”

Source: Read Full Article