Many of you will know that this week marked the ninth anniversary of the EU referendum on 23 June 2016. This is a date that will be seared in many of your brains and will – for all the wrong reasons – be a permanent fixture in history books.
What you might not be aware of is that today, 24 June 2025, is also a symbolic day. That’s because this is the date that featured in an article written by Conservative Party member, Vote Leave co-founder and former MEP Daniel Hannan.
In a piece written two days before the referendum, Hannan invited us to cast our minds forward to 24 June 2025 and imagine a utopian world where Britain is no longer part of the European Union.
In the article, Hannan writes of Independence Day celebrations with fireworks, improved relations with Britain’s neighbours and a country where the economy, democracy and liberty have all been reinvigorated thanks to nine years outside the EU.
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He predicts that the UK is, on 24 June 2025, the “region’s foremost knowledge-based economy,” and “leads the world in biotech, law, education, the audio-visual sector, financial services and software.”
Meanwhile, in Hannan’s imaginary world, the EU “continues to turn inwards, clinging to its dream of political amalgamation as the euro and migration crises worsen.”
“Its population is ageing, its share of world GDP shrinking and its peoples protesting,” he adds.
And the article goes on like this for several paragraphs of sunlit Brexit uplands.
Of course, none of this has come to pass. Instead, Brexit has left the UK isolated, had a disastrous impact on the economy and is widely acknowledged by even the most staunch Brexiteers as being a failure of epic proportions.
On 24 June each year, people have reminded Hannan of his article. But today is the exact day he wrote of nine years ago, and many have therefore decided to celebrate what has been dubbed Daniel Hannan Day.
In a post on X, author Edwin Hayward wrote: “It’s finally here! It’s Daniel Hannan Day! The future he promised everyone a mere 2 days before the Brexit referendum is so exciting, I think my heart may burst with joy when I step outside and experience it for myself.”
In a follow-up post sharing a link to Hannan’s infamous article, Hayward said: “Congratulations. You’ve found the link to the least accurate thing anyone ever wrote about Brexit.
“Daniel Hannan penned a piece 2 days before the referendum explaining what life would be like on 24 June 2025, ie today. It’s worth a read for the laughs.”
Many joined in in celebrating the day, with #danielhannanday trending on X.
Former England rugby player Brian Moore wrote: “Rejoice: Today is #danielhannanday. Let’s honour the British values of genuflecting to posh people who refuse to accept responsibility for being wrong and rewarding them with honours. We are making our country great again.”
Someone else posted: “Well, it’s today, now… #danielhannanday In decades to come, his name will be invoked as as a recognised S.I. unit of measurement for unfathomable wrongness of an individual.
“For collective stupidity of an entire country or its electorate the standard unit will be Brxits.”
A third wrote: “Happy #danielhannanday to all who celebrate what can only be described as the career high for Britain’s Wrongest Man – a (hot) take so fundamental to his entire career and so magnificently and manifestly wrong that it should be hung in a gallery. Well done Dan!”
And what of Hannan? Well, he was rewarded with a peerage for his bang-on prediction, and has been a sitting member of the House of Lords since 2021.