This is a thread to honour the many British people who have helped to build our Europe. The UK can leave, but their contributions stay, and this will always be OUR Europe that we built together. Nobody can erase that history. 1/

People like Roy Jenkins, the first and only British President of the European Commission. Under Jenkins' leadership, the Commission developed Economic and Monetary Union and paved the way for the Euro. 2/

People like Philip Lowe, who during his long career in several departments of the European Commission shaped so many policies that have changed people's lives for the better. 3/

People like Brian Bender, who saw the value of Whitehall experience to Brussels, and Brussels experience to Whitehall, and made those connections happen. He had an EU flag on his office wall before it was fashionable. 4/

People like John Pinder, a visionary who inspired me to see beyond the narrow limits of the nation state and gave me a vocation. Thank you John. 5/

People like Nick Crosby, a tireless enthusiastic grassroots campaigner who brings people together and makes things happen. 6/

People like Julie Ward, representing her constituents in Brussels and Strasbourg, working hard to deliver democracy at the European level. Thank you to all those British MEPs who took that job seriously and worked on our behalf. 7/

People like Simon Usherwood, an educator who brings Europe alive to his students, an academic who makes it his business to understand the EU and people's relationship to it. 8/

People like Jim Moran, who represented the EU in Jamaica, Ethiopia, Jordan, Yemen, Egypt, and Libya. 9/

People like Steve Bullock, negotiating for their country in working groups to refine and fine tune laws and policies that help make the EU the regulatory superpower it is. 10/

People like Jacqui Hale, working for NGOs in Brussels and making sure that their voices are heard by policy-makers in the EU institutions. Advocates like Jacqui build better policy. 11/

People like Dan Pashley, sitting in booths behind us, listening to every word we speak and interpreting them on the fly into other languages to which we listen in real time. Takes incredible skill, and makes the whole thing work. 12/

People like Andy Barnard, who died last week. Andy was one of the people who worked behind the scenes to support the people of central and eastern Europe as they rebuilt during the 1990s. Their prosperity today owes a lot to Andy's work. 13/

These are twelve names picked more or less at random from people I know, but they represent thousands more just like them. Spend a moment this week to reflect on their contribution to Europe and to the public good. I'm so proud of what we've built together. 14/14

I hope @julie4nw @NickCrosby @Usherwood @GuitarMoog @JacquiHale and @eurodan don't mind me picking them out and mentioning them like this, it could of course equally have been so many others. All part of this great thing called Europe.

Remember every single person who helped build Europe: from the Commissioners and MEPs and Directors-General to the desk officers and secretaries and translators and teachers at the European Schools, and their families. What we did made and makes a difference. Fuck Brexit, always.

I mentioned my late friend and colleague Andy Barnard in this thread, and @GuitarMoog and I also spoke about him on the podcast. So I’d like to share Andy’s obituary written by his widow Rebecca. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/feb/18/andy-barnard-obituary

Another sad addendum to add to this thread. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/apr/14/sir-brian-crowe-obituary