Wetherspoons prints 'Brexit' beer mats comparing IMF with FIFA

Having a pint is about to get political as JD Wetherspoon is printing 200,000 beer mats backing founder Tim Martin's wish for Britain to leave the European Union.

By the end of today punters in all of Wetherspoon’s 920-plus branches in the UK will get a message that compares Remain supporting body the International Monetary Fund to scandal-hit FIFA.

As well as asking “Is the governance of the IMF better than FIFA’s?”, the note, addressed to IMF chief Christine Lagarde, draws attention to her upcoming trial over her role in a €400 million (£304.8 million) payout made to businessman Bernard Tapie in 2008.

It also mentions the resignation “in disgrace” of her predecessor Dominique Strauss-Kahn and questions the IMF’s stewardship of the Greek debt crisis.

Martin, who previously warned that the European Union is “bad for our business”, said: “Corporate governance at the IMF is clearly out of control and Christine Lagarde would have been obliged to resign at any normal Plc or institution until the matters in question were resolved.

“The UK public have been asked to rely on her comments by both George Osborne and David Cameron in the forthcoming referendum and she must now answer the questions on the beer mats and others that the public may have.

“Christine Lagarde’s intergrity and her bona fides as a national advisor, as well as that of the IMF, are a legitimate and important concern.”