On the day Article 50 was invoked, Vote Leave’s chief executive Matthew Elliott said he was confident everything would be wrapped up within two years and that "all the problems that you traditionally have with a trade negotiation aren't there".

In the days leading up to its invocation, he wrote a piece for BrexitCentral celebrating the "50 groups behind Article 50", saying, "We can look forward to Theresa May triggering Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty before the end of the month". https://brexitcentral.com/50-groups-behind-article-50-part-i/

So when Elliott now tells @TomMcTague that invoking Article 50 was a mistake, this is just self-serving revisionism. He was celebrating it at the time.

https://www.politico.eu/article/how-uk-lost-brexit-eu-negotiation/

Matthew Elliott (November 2016): "It's actually quite a simple deal... They have a pretty comprehensive plan for what they want to negotiate once they've triggered Article 50. I'm very confident still that by the end of March, Article 50 will be triggered."

Matthew Elliott (March 2017): "I can't wait for the Prime Minister to actually trigger Article 50 itself. I think we're in for a very positive two years."