Michael Caine joins Brexit battle as The Sun beams defiant messages onto Rock of Gibraltar and warns Spain to keep their hands off territory
SIR Michael Caine has joined the Brexit battle — as The Sun sent Spain a mountain-sized message over Gibraltar.
We beamed a giant Hands Off Our Rock message on to the headland as Sir Michael — famous for his “you’re only supposed to blow the bloody doors off” catchphrase from The Italian Job — hailed Brexit as a vote for freedom.
The Oscar winner said: “I voted for Brexit.
“I’d rather be a poor master than a rich servant.
“It wasn’t about racism, immigrants or anything, it was about freedom.”
Speaking to while promoting his new film 'Going in Style', he told people worried about Brexit negotiations: “In politics you’re always going into areas you’ve never been before, so you’re going to get lost and then you’re going to find your way, and then it’ll be all right.”
Sir Michael was the first major star to back Brexit in 2016, attacking the EU’s “faceless dictators”.
Former Justice Secretary and Vote Leave frontman Michael Gove lapped up his comments last night, telling The Sun: “I love Michael Caine. He’s the kind of expert I like.”
It comes as the Sun travelled to the Rock to spell out the message to our Spanish amigos, who have been desperate to grab Gibraltar for the past 300 years but were told bluntly: Hands Off Our Rock.
We also beamed Up Yours Senors and No Way Jose on to the Rock’s 1,300ft-high North Face.
And we made sure our messages of support for the Gibraltarians were translated into Spanish for those across the border in the neighbouring town of La Linea.
Locals cheered as our slogans illuminated the Rock but Spanish builders at its base jeered.
Projectionist Stuart Roberts, 52, said: “They weren’t happy campers.”
Looking at the message, retired MoD worker Dennis Gonzalez, 63, said: “It should be up there permanently — well done The Sun.
“I’m sure the Spanish will be complaining about it but then again they complain about everything.
“They’ve been complaining for 300 years.
“Everyone here is proud to be British and we’re staying British.”
British tourist Steven Williams, 39, a decorator from Eltham, South East London, said: “I heard that Spain likes to send patrol boats into Gibraltar’s waters so good on The Sun for having a go back.”
We need all the help that we can get
Locals took to social media as our headlines lit up the limestone mass.
Kaelan Joyce wrote to thank The Sun for our “loyal support”.
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He added: “They will raise awareness with certain sectors of the British public and hopefully support.
“We need all the help that we can get.”
Claire Gib wrote beside pictures of the Hands Off Our Rock projection: “We’re loving the campaign.”
A tweeter called British Gibraltar posted pictures of our stunt and exclaimed: “Fantastic.”
Another on social media said well done to the “Currant Bun”.
One posted a picture of our Up Yours Senors headline on the Rock, adding: “LOL is this for real?”
Another tweeted “Well done” alongside a photo of one of our headlines in Spanish.
Earlier this week — after we published our Up Yours Senors! front page — Gibraltar’s chief minister Fabian Picardo, 45, said: “Having The Sun on our side means the world to us.”
A professional team from specialist firm the Media Services Company embarked on a 36-hour dash from Reading, Berks, in their white van for our mission.
As they moved into action, seagulls flew overhead and a Union Flag fluttered in the chilly evening breeze at the Rock’s summit.
Sun posters were flashed on to the crag known by the ancient Greeks as one of the two Pillars of Hercules.
Gibraltar — which has a population of just 32,000 — is of strategic importance as it guards the narrow 12-mile straits between Europe and Africa.
Spain made a land grab in the EU’s Brexit negotiating document which said no deal with the UK would apply to Gibraltar without the Spaniards’ say so.
But Gibraltar — ceded to Britain by the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht — wants to stay red, white and blue.
A referendum in 2002 saw Gibraltarian voters reject the idea of joint sovereignty with Spain by 99 per cent. Spain’s potential veto over the Brexit deal has sparked fury.
Riled former Tory leader Lord Howard even rattled sabres by bringing up Margaret Thatcher’s re-taking of the Falkland Islands from Argentina as a warning to the Spaniards.
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson insisted the sovereignty of Gibraltar “is unchanged and is not going to change”.
Our light van gang
OUR headlines were beamed on to the Rock via three projectors from the back of a van — driven in the dead of night through mainland Europe.
They produced light levels of 60,000 lumens, equivalent to up to 85 standard 60W household bulbs.
The specialist lighting team from UK-based Media Services Company then synced them to form one image.
Projection manager Stuart Roberts, 52, said: “We drove all night through France and Spain to make it. We didn’t get any kip but it was worth it.”