When it was announced that Sir Daniel Alexander was to join the board of the main, cross-party campaign to keep Britain in the EU, my mind flashed back 16 years.

In the autumn of 1999, plain Danny, all of 27 at the time, was deeply involved in the last national crusade to make the pro-European case to the British people.  

It was called simply ‘Britain in Europe’, and Danny was its director of communications. And I was there too, in a minor way. Danny hired my agency to make a seven-minute film that would launch the Britain in Europe movement at an unprecedented political gathering at the IMAX Cinema in Waterloo. I can recall trudging through the streets of Salford with a camera as Danny himself asked bewildered punters if they favoured Britain joining the Euro.  

Sure enough, the IMAX day came. All of the great political figures of the time were on the platform: Blair, Brown, Heseltine, Clarke and Kennedy. There was blanket media coverage. It even merited a full-page splash in The Sun, then at the peak of its power and influence.

Blair, also at the height of his political authority, promised us a campaign “for a generation” to make the case for Britain’s participation in Europe. And he had almost everyone that mattered in UK plc to support him.

So what happened? Despite that stellar launch, Britain in Europe has almost vanished from our political memory. It never delivered on its promise to make the European case “for a generation”. In fact, the campaign wound up six years later having achieved little or nothing of its objectives. Try searching and you may find a link to the campaign website. But now it’s just another dusty old URL for sale.

The reason all of this matters, and why Danny’s role is now critical, is that I heard too many echoes of Britain in Europe when its successor ‘Britain Stronger in Europe’ launched last month - almost 16 years later to the day. And I think that creates the real possibility of the ‘Leave, Take Control’ team winning. Here’s why:

The problem with Britain in Europe was that it was hijacked, just a few weeks before launch, by a squad of New Labour apparatchiks who favoured highly aggressive, tabloid-style campaigning. Two years after their historic election victory in 1997, they were in no mood to be challenged by anyone.  

And that’s what worried me when I watched the launch of the ‘Stronger’ campaign a few weeks ago. Exactly the same strategies are being deployed: the strident, almost hectoring tone, the heavily manipulated statistics, the angry dismissal of opposing arguments and – worst of all – the deeply patronising soundbites.

Back in 1999, Blair and his supporters told us endlessly that three million jobs depended on our membership of the European Union. And last month, Lord Rose, head of the ‘Stronger’ campaign, made exactly the same claim. My prediction is that we are going to hear this assertion repeated so often it is going to lose whatever power it has to influence voters to stay – especially when subject to challenge by the clever ‘Out’ campaign.

And then there are the terrible faux-tabloid headlines and copy on the ‘Stronger’ news releases:

Action by the EU means mobile roaming charges are to be SCRAPPED – great news for British families.

Leaving Europe means: STILL PAY, but LOSE OUR SAY

Whoever you are, please just stop now. You are putting our membership of the EU at stake with this rubbish.

What’s most disturbing, in my view, is the attempt to play both sides of the line when it comes to the European issue.

Lord Rose, the head of the ‘Stronger’ campaign, told us during the launch that he was “not an uncritical fan” of the European Union. Blair said something similar in 1999.

If the head of the ‘In’ campaign isn’t a true evangelist for the European cause, then who is?

And this is where Sir Danny comes in. I know from experience that he is a true believer in Europe. And out of all of the grandees on the ‘Stronger’ board, he is the only one with the popular touch who can make the real case for EU membership to the British people without patronising or boring them. Who else is going to do it? Lord Mandelson? City PR grandee Roland Rudd? Prince George from Blackadder?

And we need others with true passion for Europe, regardless of whether they fit a particular demographic profile.

I remember doing an interview for the launch of Britain in Europe with Paddy Ashdown, who had just stood down as Liberal Democrat leader. Danny was there too. After interviewing a bunch of prominent but anodyne business leaders, I decided we needed to put some fire into this production. So we posed some provocative anti-European questions to Ashdown. The old soldier responded with such a powerful mixture of true belief and anger, it was a firecracker way to start the film.   

Remember that day. It’s time to step forward, Danny. Your country needs you.

Geoff Beattie is Executive Director of APCO Worldwide