At the heart of the EU referendum campaign, prime minister David Cameron and mayor of London Boris Johnson are going head-to-head over whether or not we should stay in the union.

Here, Boris’ father, and Exmoor-based Stanley Johnson, and speaks to the Gazette’s LEE IRVING about the referendum, his son, and environmental issues...

AS WE move into April, the debate regarding the European Union is getting more and more heated.

The country appears to be split on whether to vote Leave or Stay at the polls on June 23, particularly in Somerset.

There are reports of scaremongering and of huge international companies such as Airbus writing to employees and telling them what may happen if there is a “Brexit” – a British exit from the EU.

Newspapers and television channels are filled with coverage of the referendum, with one politician, Boris Johnson, seemingly attracting more attention than any other as he spearheads the Vote Leave campaign.

Boris has long been a critic of the union, since his days as a journalist at the Daily Telegraph. But, his views are almost the complete opposite of his father, Stanley.

A former journalist and author himself, Mr Johnson spoke to the County Gazette after returning from a holiday, or as he put it, “riding mules across Mexican mountains”.

Mr Johnson, who lives on a farm in Exmoor on the Somerset and Devon border, has long been a campaigner over environmental issues, and actually worked on the European Commission when his son was working at the national newspaper.

Somerset County Gazette:

He has also launched a counter-campaign group, called Environmentalists for Europe, putting him and his son at the polar opposites of the debate.

“I’m on the Stay campaign, and I have started up a group called Environmentalists for Europe, which is campaigning to stay in the European Union because of environmental issues, but I have spent 20 years working and campaigning for it,” he said.

“It’s incredibly important people go out to vote on this.

“When the British public go to the polls, they have got to know all of the facts about the referendum, and the impact it will have on people.

“The vote will define the future of the country.

“For example, let’s take the farming sector.

“I’m not saying they are in it for the money, but I would suggest that they receive a lot more support from the EU than they do the UK Government.”

Mr Johnson said the referendum could have a big effect on the county of Somerset.

He said: “Thinking about Somerset, whatever the outcome is, could have a big impact on local people, on stuff such as farming and environmental issues.

“The EU gives a lot of money for flood relief and flood defences, and the support from the EU allows for real things to be done, in Somerset and other parts of the country.

“We get to re-evaluate our relationship with the EU, and that’s what Boris is doing, and he is saying we should move away from it.”

A number of criticisms have been aimed at Boris, including that his decision to spearhead the Leave Campaign is a politically-charged move in a bid to further himself, rather than the best interests of Britain.

However, his father completely disagrees.

“I think that the Leave campaign has been extremely lucky to have Boris; he attracts more attention and more coverage than the others,” he said.

“Some have said that this is a career move, an opportunistic decision by him, but I do not agree with that at all.

“Anybody who has read his books or his articles when he was a journalist at the Daily Telegraph will see that he always been sceptical about the EU.

“I was working in Brussels on the European Commission when Boris first arrived with the Daily Telegraph, and anyone who read that article all those years ago, and the long and well-reasoned ones since then, can hardly accuse him of not being a thinking man.

“Actually, he has done the country a great service in the sense that he has brought life to this whole debate. He has raised a lot of very good issues with the economy, and what direction the EU is going in.

“I think this could be a career-damaging move really, he seemed all geared up to get a top cabinet job or a move further up, but probably not now.

“I might disagree with him on the issues and whether or not we should stay in, but this is just not a career move.”

Moving forward, Mr Johnson will continue to campaign as part of the Environmentalists for Europe group, and added he hoped that Britain would vote to remain in the EU.

He also urged both sides to tone down the toxicity during the debates, with allegations of abuse and scaremongering circling, saying it was putting people off.

“There’s a lot to play for in the referendum, but what we must do is make sure that it is seen to be done in a friendly spirit.

“I think both sides have been playing on fear, and the stay campaign has perhaps exaggerated this leap in the dark aspect if we left.

“I am not convinced it would take five or six years to get a trade deal, or to get the laws back, but I still back the stay vote.

“In a nutshell, the argument is very finely balanced, but I hope we stay in.”